Jewel is keeping it real with her son, Kase, opening up about her mental health experiences and giving him as much guidance for his own life as possible.
“We all have brains, and so we all have to learn tools to have good mental hygiene and good mental health hygiene,” Jewel, 52, exclusively told Us while promoting her upcoming second annual Not Alone Summit Award Show. “What we think affects how we feel. That creates biochemical cascades, and that affects our actual body, and it’s this loop.”
The Grammy nominee noted, “And being able to be aware of that, be responsible for it, and then being able to teach my son about it has been a really wonderful gift.”
Jewel, who shares her 15-year-old son with ex-husband Ty Murray, explained that after her own rocky childhood she has tried to be honest with Kase about all that life has to offer.
“It’s been a real joy to be my son’s teacher and friend in life, and teaching him skills to handle his own internal life,” she shared. “And for me, a lot of it was teaching him that philosophy of if you want your outer life to change, look at your inner life. Be responsible for your feelings. Don’t make other people responsible for your feelings. Be accountable and curious about what you’re feeling. What do your feelings need from you?”
The Fixer Upper Mysteries actress explained that a “real trend today” in both the “wellness culture” and the “parenting culture” is to lay it on too thick and overwhelm young people.
“For someone like me whose feelings were never listened to — the tendency is to over-empower our kids’ feelings, which can be just as bad as under-empowering them,” Jewel told Us. “Finding that good middle road where they feel listened to, but where they also still feel responsible for their feelings, is important.”
She added that guiding her son to finding his own way is something she’s “enjoying” as he navigates his teenage years.
Jewel, who created the Not Alone Summit Award Show in 2025, pointed out that her own mental health journey began at a young age after her childhood was upended by her parents’ divorce when she was 8 years old.
“My mom left. My dad took over raising us. My dad started drinking. My dad started being abusive, and we were singing at that point in bars. And so my dad and I were a duet,” she recalled of the tumultuous time. “And I had this front row seat to watching people that were in pain, medicate. I didn’t know that word at the time, but what struck me is I could tell we were all in pain, and I could tell nobody outran it.”
The “Pieces of You” singer said she had a “front row seat to seeing people use drugs and anger and all kinds of things to try and manage their pain,” which turned into a “very valuable lesson that you don’t outrun it.”
Jewel revealed that her personal experience with her parents’ vices and struggles paired with the story of buffalo being “the only animal that heads into the heart of a storm,” helped her to realize “the quickest way is through.”
The musician — who was homeless at 18 before releasing her debut album three years later — told Us one of her best coping mechanisms to any life shake up beginning at age 9 is to “move toward what was uncomfortable, get curious about what’s uncomfortable, and help it transform more quickly.”
Now as an adult, Jewel said that she is fully aware that she is “responsible for my happiness” and that “nobody owes me.”
That perspective has spilled over into Jewel’s work with the Not Alone Summit Award Show, which will take place in Las Vegas in November.
“Our first year last year just had an incredible turnout of wonderful people, and this year is slated to look even better,” Jewel said of the upcoming event, which brings together leaders from various industries to promote global mental health. “It’s wonderful to be able to honor people who really make a difference in the mental health space.”
She added that after having an “adverse background” herself, she thinks it is important to help others get access to tools they need to be able to “transform those adverse experiences into jet fuel for great dreams.”
The second annual Not Alone Summit Award Show is scheduled for Monday, November 2, through Wednesday, November 4, in Las Vegas.
