Jewel’s doctor couldn’t have been clearer when he told her to quit Dancing With the Stars.
“He said, ‘You’re done,’” Jewel says. “You’re not going to dance and you’re not going to walk! You’re on crutches.”
It was announced today that the singer was stepping away from the eighth season of DWTS because her training has left her with fractured tibiae in both legs. She’ll be on crutches for about six weeks. (Also out because of leg injuries is Access Hollywood cohost Nancy O’Dell.)
I caught up with Jewel this afternoon before her gig tonight in Highland, Calif. Yes, she planned to perform sitting down...
“My doctor said under no circumstances could I continue because if the fractures get worse, we were looking at long-term damage like arthritis at a young age or pins in my legs,” Jewel said. “Neither of those were an option.”
She first told her professional bull rider husband, Ty Murray, who is also competing this season on DWTS, the bad news and then she had to break it to her dance partner Dmitry Chaplin. “I dreaded telling my partner,” she said. “He and I were so well matched. We got along so great. We were so into it.”
Chaplin will now be dancing with Girl Next Door Holly Madison, which I exclusively confirmed with Hugh Hefner earlier today.
Jewel hasn’t spoken to Madison yet, but she does have some advice for the buxom blonde: “Listen to your dance partner, don’t have an attitude and pace yourself.”
Jewel says she has every intention of making a comeback. Not only does she intend to sing a song or two from her upcoming album, Lullaby, this season, but she actually wants to dance again. “Hopefully, they’ll have me back and team me up with Dmitry again so we can finish what we started,” she said. “I’ll just need to go slower next time.”