Jewel Accuses Mom of 'Embezzling' Over $100 Million From Her

Singer-songwriter, Jewel Kilcher recently opened up about her childhood and her relationship with her parents in the latest episode of Verywell Mind Podcast. She mentioned that her estranged relationship with her mother affected her deeply. Sharing her experience with the podcast host, Amy Morin, Jewel revealed a piece of shocking news about her mother Lenedra, who was her manager. The Grammy nominee said that her mother stole all of her money, which was over $100 million, according to People.

"I didn't really realize what my mom was until I was 30-something. I woke up and realized she embezzled all of my money, over $100 million," Jewel said. "Thirty-four years old, realize I'm $3 million in debt, realize my mom stole it, realize everything I thought my mom was isn't what she was. Very difficult psychological thing to come to terms with," she continued.

Fox News reported that the Foolish Games singer did not realize that her mother had an evil side, and she instead thought her father was abusive, "My dad was this volatile alcoholic that hit me, very easy [for me] to identify [the] ‘bad guy.' My mom seemed like the opposite. She was calm, she was soft, she never yelled, obviously never hit me. And I didn't realize I was being abused in another way at the time," Jewel explained. 

She continued, "And then as I started investigating the truth about what my mom had told me in my life versus what was true, I had realized that pretty much everything that I had formed my reality off was fiction." She said that her parents divorced when she was just an 8-year-old and that she went on to live with her dad. "My dad didn't take us from my mom, he actually did a good thing ….[I] realized my mom left because she didn't want to be a mom," she explained.

The Who Will Save Your Soul singer explained that she was in a $3 million debt because of her mother, and this realization disturbed her mentally. "Having to go back as a 34-year-old and rework your psyche was not fun but so powerful," she explained. 

The co-founder of Innerworld, a virtual reality-based wellness center, mentioned the struggles of estrangement with her mother and former manager first in her tell-all 2016 memoir, Never Broken.  She detailed in the book how Lenedra took control of her finances and subsequently led her into debt despite selling millions of albums. 

Jewel now focuses on the needs of the next generation and wants to support them in their struggle with mental health and abuse. Her Innerworld platform works with anyone no matter their background. "It doesn't mean they're broken either. There's so many tools and things we can do to help ourselves with a little bit of guidance," she explained. "Innerworld is a scalable solution that's available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, offering real, peer-to-peer support," she added. Jewel has also co-founded the Inspiring Children's Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of at-risk youth in Las Vegas through a holistic approach to physical, emotional and mental health.