Singer, Jewel Reveals Shocking Sexual Harassment Past: "It was Pretty Wild"

Jewel had one tough life as a child and even became a homeless teenager at one point, but before all of that, the singer dealt with sexual harassment from men, which traveled with her through many stages of her life. In a new chat, she revealed her shocking past, and said that at some points, "it was pretty wild." She shared that her experiences have made her a strong women today -- even when men try to make advances now.

 Time well spent last night at the @opry - love playing new #PickingUpThePieces music live. We are down to 2 more days till release!

A photo posted by Jewel (@jewel) on Sep 9, 2015 at 7:49am PDT

According to Hollywood Life, Jewel said: "I've had men hitting on me, sadly, since I was really young. At 8, I had men putting dimes in my hands saying, 'Call me. It'd be so great to f- you when you're older.' And just horrible stuff."

They say that your past can help you become better, and that's just what this 41-year-old did. After growing up in horrible circumstances, Jewel starting to use her pain and experiences to write her music. At one time, she lived out of her car until she got a break in the music business at 18 years old.

It wasn't easy becoming a musician. Jewel went through harsh experiences with her bosses and other men out there.

"I've never been more propositioned by businessmen in my life," she admitted. "It was almost like they were sharks that could smell blood, like of vulnerability. I'd go back to my car, writing songs, and men would literally come up and proposition me. They would be like, 'Hey do you need rent money?' You know, things like that. It was pretty wild. I never took anybody up on it, but it was interesting to see this side of men that basically would prey on somebody vulnerable."

When she joined the entertainment industry, things seemed to remind her about her past. But like we said earlier, you past can help you become stronger and that's what it did for her.

"In the music business, it ended up serving me very well. I learned to keep my energy to myself, where there's nothing about me that seemed approachable. And as men did approach me, I got very good at handling men in a way that sort of didn't anger them. And at the same time using wit and humor to defense the situation and to inform them, 'P.S. - not available in that way.'"

The singer is currently promoting her 12th album, Picking Up the Pieces.

Woke up to your beautiful comments on #PickingUpThePieces - all of the feels [get your copy at link in bio] A photo posted by Jewel (@jewel) on Sep 11, 2015 at 5:53am PDT