Contact Music has some quotes from singer Jewel, who was interviewed in the latest issue of Shape on her body image. It’s kind of hearbreaking to hear that Jewel was so affected by press coverage calling her chubby that she once ate a whole cake and then tried to throw it up. She wasn’t successful, and she said that she vowed never to hurt her body to stay thin:
Singer JEWEL was driven to the brink of an eating disorder when she was once labelled “the chubby RENEE ZELLWEGER”.
The Who Will Save Your Soul star was horrified when she heard about the nasty nickname during her first few years in the spotlight, and admits the painful jibe left her on the verge of bulimia.
She tells Shape magazine, “My feelings were so hurt by that story, I ended up bingeing on an entire cake. Afterward, I actually tried to throw it all up, but thankfully I couldn’t do it.
“It made me think, ‘I can’t go down this road.’ I had seen so many performers develop eating disorders or try to control their weight with drugs, and I decided I would do no harm to my body.”
[From Contact Music]
The other day I was a restaurant bathroom when I heard the woman next to me go in, throw up quickly, and then come out like nothing was wrong. It was really obvious that it wasn’t morning sickness or food poisoning and I wanted to say something to her but I kept my mouth shut. It probably wouldn’t have helped her anyway.
I have struggled with my weight and am back on track through Weight Watchers now but I can completely relate to eating to cope with problems. I still have a hard time when I’m stressed out as I just want to reach for a high carb snack to cope. It’s hard to replace those habits with healthier ones and it’s easy to fall into a trap where you gain a lot of weight quickly. It’s easy to get started and then eat a lot of calories quickly if you’re in that crazy eating mindset. I want to give Jewel a hug and tell her it will be ok. She seems to have come to terms with whatever she was struggling with, anyway.
Oh have any of you read that new book that Oprah is touting as revolutionary, Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth? I haven’t read the whole thing yet but I did see an excerpt in O! and read the preview on Amazon and found myself relating to a lot of passages. I’m not a spiritual person and it touts that heavily, although there are a lot of lessons to be learned about our emotional reasons for eating. I think whenever we can slow down and question our relationship with food it helps.
Update: Here’s Jewel’s Shape cover and more quotes from her interview, via The Huffington Post.
On being called “the chubby Renee Zellweger” in the media years ago:
“My feelings were so hurt by that story, I ended up bingeing on an entire cake. Afterward, I actually tried to throw it all up, but thankfully I couldn’t do it. It made me think, ‘I can’t go down this road.’ I had seen so many performers develop eating disorders or try to control their weight with drugs, and I decided I would do no harm to my body.”Her advice to women:
“We should be more like men, God bless ’em. They can take their shirts off and show their man boobs, and they don’t give a hoot. But women are so critical of themselves. We can be gorgeous and hot and still be embarrassed to wear a tank top. So if you can’t stop looking in the mirror, at least try to not think badly about yourself when you do.”On her diet:
“I try to stay away from an all-or-nothing mentality when it comes to food. It’s like a pendulum: The more extreme I am–like saying, ‘I’m not going to eat any carbs’–the further it’s going to swing to the other side and I’m going to binge. My dad sends me fresh salmon and halibut from Alaska as well as dried nettles, which I like to put into soups. I also eat a lot of raw vegetables or bitter greens, like kale and dandelion greens, lightly sautéed in olive oil. People are so fat-phobic these days, but eating good fats is important, which is why I always try to get some olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado into whatever I’m making.”
[Shape via Huffington Post]
Here’s Jewel in 1999 and 2000 (first two photos below, first one is with South Park Creator Trey Parker). This may be the time period she’s talking about as it’s the only time I could find in which she looked even slightly larger than how tiny she is now. She’s lovely and not at all chubby. I also included a photo of her from 2002 and one from the 2010 CMAs as you can see how she had her teeth fixed very slightly. The header photo and other photos are recent and credit: WENN.com
1999:
2000:
2002:
2010:
2010:
I have always thought she was adorable and love how she did not fix her teeth. I thought she had self esteem out the wazoo.
Um, those teeth are fixed, my dear. She’s missing the snaggletooth in the 2010 photos.
Renee Zellweger wishes she looked half as good as Jewel.
always adored her. i’m happy to hear she came to terms with herself and basically called people out (albeit in a very classy not pointing fingers way) for saying such damaging things to a young woman/
I’ve never seen her as chubby or fat! She is incredibly sexy and I’ve always admired her talent as a singer.
It’s particularly hateful to mock a musician for their looks. She’s not singing with her butt, people. Same goes for the Kelly Clarkson jabs.
Thank goodness she fixed those teeth!
i think her teeth are cute and make her look different, i love them
Have loved Jewel since her Pieces of You days…saw her at a very small venue when I was in college and she was gracious and musically amazing. She has always seemed to be a pretty genuine person. I was so bummed when she had an injury just prior to Dancing with the Stars and had to drop out! Fell in love with her hubby while he was on though. Stay strong, Jewel! You’re gorgeous inside and out.
PS: totally agree Renee Zellweger wishes she looked as good as Jewel…!
Love Jewel, I think she’s GREAT just the way she is.
I haven’t read that book but maybe I should pick it up. I’m job hunting now and I know I’m absolutely stress and emotional eating…just stuffing my face because I’m freaking out about various things. I’m trying to keep it healthy when I can, but it’s a struggle, every day, all day, not to just keep eating steadily. I think I may also be addicted to the internet if only to fill that gaping hole.
::sigh::
Only in anorexic worshipping Hollywoodland would Jewel be considered chubby.
Wow, she finally fixed her damn teeth! Looking good Jewel.
I think she has a great figure.
I’ve tried to become bulimic too but I can’t make myself throw up either. I suppose I should be grateful… except that I’ve got the first part down pat.
I can’t stand Renee Zelahfkhdsaygeyu whatever her name is. I agree that she does not hold a candle to Jewel and Renee does not deserve BCoop, I DO!!!!
a friend of mine is a concierge at the W. hotel and she told me that jewel is very small and very pretty in person. unfortunately she also said jewel was a real bitch – all the staff were instructed not to touch, talk to or look at jewel. that made me sad because up until then i liked jewel. i hate when that happens.
Ugh, when grown women admit to eating disorder behavior it just makes them look immature and silly. I had a lot of respect for her and what she’s been through, and then she says she ate a whole cake and tried to throw it up? That’s what a 14 year old girl does after getting bullied at school by the popular boys.
“Jewel Tried to Get an Eating Disorder–and Survived!”
Uh huh. Because, of course, you can contract ED’s just like everything else. Her statement mocks people that suffer with “actual” bulimia, anorexia, binge eating, body dysmorphia…
Sorry. I’m on my soapbox about this.
“I ate an entire cake and tried to make myself barf but couldn’t (whew!)” is not doing much for the face of eating disorder awareness.
End rant.
Jewel is just a fine classy woman. Given all the junk that is going on in the music world today, one can only admirer her for being herself and that seems to be a very good person indeed.
I don’t actually think that it lessens eating disorder awareness to have these types of “dabbling” stories come to light. Technically, according to the DSM-IV, to qualify as bulimic someone must engage in purging type behaviors at least twice a week. I don’t think that doing it once a week makes someone any less sick, although there are certainly shades of gray and disorders are often way more severe.
For many people, especially women in cultures with very thin beauty ideals, disordered thinking about/dealing with food is commonplace. There is a fine line between chewing each mouthful completely and obsessively counting chews. Same with working out versus obsessively trying to “balance” calories out with calories in. It’s usually a slippery slope–most people don’t just wake up one morning and start vomiting after every meal. It’s important that people are able to catch themselves and say, “Whoa–this isn’t going to work.”
Personally, I think that when someone tries to purge for the first time and cannot go through with it, that is a good sign for them. Bulimia is a form of self-injury, not just a method people use to cheat caloric intake. Being unable to harm yourself suggests good self-preservation instincts.
GatsbyGal, your example is the exception rather than the rule, for several reasons that I won’t go into now. Eating disorders are not all that different from other forms of self-injury, but tend to be more about restriction and control. They are very complex and frequently misunderstood. Suffice it to say that it takes a lot more than just one day of name calling by a mean boy to go from the normal desire to survive and engaging in self-injurious behavior that directly vies with health.
But I still love you.
<3
@v@ an owl for you.
I like that she didn’t get her teeth fixed to be completely straight, even and white. They look better but still natural. And she is absolutely adorable in that 2002 photo! If I was called a chubby Zellweger, I wouldn’t be worrying about my weight, I’d be worrying about the squinty anteater face!
I find it interesting that people so outraged that Jewel was called mean-spirited names because of her looks are so happy to do it to Renee. There is some startling hypocrisy going on here.
She’s so cute and I love her music. I am glad she didn’t take any drastic measures. She is such a joy in concert, too. She is one of the natural talents.
Jewel Forever. And I like Renee Z, too!
Just because someone tries to purge once or twice in their life does not mean they were “one the brink of an eating disorder”.
Eating disorders are a lot more complicated than that, and they aren’t a choice.
@sonala trip: I was thinking the exact same thing.
Hypocrisy anyone??
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