Jewel opens up about anxiety disorder

Singer Jewel has opened up about her past battle with a severe anxiety disorder, revealing the only way to conquer her fears was through songwriting.

The Foolish Games hitmaker struggled through a period of homelessness as a teenager, before deciding to try and break into the music industry by traveling the country and playing small gigs while living out of her car.

The experiences of her youth left her suffering from agoraphobia, a fear of being around other people.

She tells The Huffington Post, "By the time I was homeless, I was crippled by agoraphobia, which is hard when you don't have a home, but in my car. I was afraid if I left my car, I would be stricken with illness."

Luckily, the one thing that helped her overcome the disease was her passion for writing music, as she began to create honest songs stemming from her painful struggles.

Jewel says, "I was writing about it. Then I started singing in front of people and telling them my worst fears, and then my life changed because I started letting people - I felt less alone for the first time because I let myself be seen, really, for the first time - all my good, bad and ugly. And people accepted me because they felt seen, because we're all the same."