My favorite Jewel song? “Intuition.” There, I said it. Speaking of the yodeling '90s superstar, the “Howard Stern” regular appeared on the show Monday morning and spilled a little-known (if at all known) fact: Tupac Shakur invited her to Las Vegas with him the same weekend he was killed. Whaaat.
Given that the singer-songwriter was out promoting her new memoir “Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story” and accompanying album “Picking Up the Pieces,” I'm going to assume this tidbit is included in the book. In any event, Howard did most of the talking as he recounted the episode as he understood it:
“You met Tupac Shakur at the MTV Awards, this is a crazy story. You're at an after-party. He asks you to come to Vegas with him, and you decline. You kinda were like 'eh, that's not my thing.' Three days later Tupac was shot in Vegas. You might have in fact been there when he was killed, I think that's the point of the story…That must have freaked you out at the time.”
While Jewel didn't directly address the anecdote in her response, she used it as a springboard for a broader discussion of small choices that can alter the course of a life, saying in part: “Life's full of these crazy paths that you go down or you don't…that was definitely a big one.”
Also, did you know that Jewel dated Sean Penn? For an entire year? The singer recounted the romance — which came very early in her career before she was a star — in the studio:
Howard: “Were you in love with him, with Sean Penn?”
Jewel: “Mmm-hmm. Yeah…we eventually fell in love, yeah.
Howard: “Were you brokenhearted when it broke up?”
Jewel: “It was hard on me. He really believed in me at a time when nobody else did. And he really made me feel good about myself and I was so desperate for that. Having that go away was hard.”
Also of note from the extended sit-down: Jewel was almost a cast member on the first season of “The Real World,” which Jewel does not remember the name of.
“I turned down that first reality show, what was it called?…the house, what was that one called? […] They asked me to be one of the first cast members…that would've been my first thing, even before I did my record. And I turned it down. And I remember the people being like, 'How are you turning this down? This is an instant thing!' And I was like, A, I'm not strong enough emotionally to be living in a house with other people and a camera on me. B, it's not what I want to be known for.”
Jewel has been holding out on us!
Other highlights from the surprisingly revealing interview: Jewel confirms she would't kiss Rob Lowe on the set of the short-lived NBC series “The Lyon's Den,” and Jewel performs a tribute to late, great Wack Packer Eric “the Actor,” who died a year ago today. You can listen to both of those moments below.