Late last month, Chappell Roan posted both a TikTok video and a lengthy Instagram post calling for harder boundaries between her fans and herself, citing stalkers, touchy fans, and people generally encroaching on her space. Now, Jewel is weighing in on the thin lines between adoration and harassment, sharing a video detailing her own experiences with sudden fame and the lack of boundaries that come with it.
“I saw that [Chappell Roan] had to turn off her comments because of her recent post just saying being stalked and having people grab you in public isn’t OK as a celebrity,” Jewel began in a TikTok video of her own. “It’s really interesting, a lot of the comments are saying: ‘You shouldn’t have chosen your job then.’ It’s a really interesting thing and I get to speak as an elder stateswoman.”
She continued: “[My hair] went grey overnight when I was 21 years old with my first daughter. It was so scary,” said Jewel, who was thrust abruptly into the spotlight after her debut album in 1995. “This person was leaving fire bombs outside my house. I was getting death threats saying I would be shot from the stage. I’ve had hundreds of stalkers in my career and it’s not OK. It made me step back from my own career. I quit after Spirit, after ‘Hands,’ because it was just too much. And I have a lot of trauma from my childhood, so fans grabbing me, touching me, turning me around, crowding me, just wasn’t good.”
While Jewel didn’t quit music altogether, she did have to set tougher boundaries with her fans going forward. She cited a specific, recent example of a fan interaction that made her feel particularly comfortable and safe: “I learned with time that I could talk to my fans and say ‘you can’t come within six feet of me.’ I was in Beverly Hills a couple of weeks ago. A fan to this day put their hand out to show me a safe gesture, only came six feet from me, and said “I just want to tell you how much I love your music.” That was so nice! It made me feel so safe! I could choose to take a picture safely.”
However, Jewel feels that interactions like these were hardly the norm throughout her career. “It was so nice, but the amount of times I was chased in airports because I wouldn’t stop — because if I stopped once a mob would happen. I remember a guy calling me a bitch yelling at me through the airport — ‘Fucking bitch! You think you’re all that!’ — like, we shouldn’t make people feel unsafe. We shouldn’t feel entitled to touch their bodies. It’s not cool.”
She then concluded the video by praising Roan and calling for more awareness towards predatory fan behavior. “So, Chappell, full support. I’m glad people are talking about it. It’s something people typically just haven’t talked about,” she said. “I’m proud of what you’re doing. And everybody, I hope you all know that everybody is worthy of compassion. Even if you’re rich. Even if you’re famous. We must show, if that’s a value of ours, to have compassion. To be tolerant, we have to be willing to understand the joys and the struggles of other people’s lives.”
Jewel isn’t the only female artist who has publicly defended Roan’s call for harder boundaries. Hayley Williams of Paramore re-shared Chappell’s Instagram post, writing, “This happens to every woman I know from this business, myself included. Social media has made this worse. I’m really thankful Chappell is willing to address it in a real way, in real time. It’s brave and unfortunately necessary.” Watch Jewel’s TikTok video below.
Jewel may have not entered the spotlight in the social media age, but she has nonetheless been supportive of Chappell Roan’s generation of stars. Back in April, Jewel joined Olivia Rodrigo for a rendition of “You Were Meant for Me” during Rodrigo’s “GUTS Tour.”
Meanwhile, Jewel is about to hit the road with Melissa Etheridge for a fall 2024 tour, kicking off on September 17th and running until October 5th. Get tickets here.
@jewel @chappell roan #chappellroan #safety for #all #women #compassion #kindness
