Jewel's Relationship History Includes Musicians, Actors, and More Romantic Interests

Jewel Kilcher, who is more commonly known as just Jewel, is a staple in pop culture history as she is known as a '90s music queen. As such, her relationship status has always been something of a public spectacle.

Tabloids famously tried to dig into her relationships and learn more about her potential boyfriends, so we have a decent understanding of her romantic past. It looks like she might be finding love again now, too.

It wasn't a long relationship, but it was certainly high profile. Jewel and Sean Penn met in the mid-1990s after she performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. At first, their relationship was purely professional.

Sean asked Jewel to pen a song for The Crossing Guard, which she did. “We spoke on the phone a lot and he was a fantastic flirt, and I did not mind one bit,” Jewel wrote in her memoir. “But I was no fool and knew I was most likely a trifle to him. I intended to give him no such conquest. I put that man through his paces and he took it in stride. He began to court me in earnest, following me around on tour, acting as my de facto roadie.”

Jewel is very open about her relationship history, even divulging her own blog. She met Ty Murray in 1999 and their relationship went steady, leading to their 2008 marriage. They even had son together in 2011.

However, the singer got real about their divorce. "Ty and I have always tried to live the most authentic life possible, and we wanted our separation as husband and wife to be nothing less loving than the way we came together," she wrote in July 2014.

"For some time we have been engaged in a private and difficult, but thoughtful and tender undoing of ourselves. Allowing ourselves the time and space to redefine what we are to each other with love rather than malice," she shared.

"I do feel like we are friends," Ty told PEOPLE in Oct. 2014. "That’s really important to me on a lot of levels. We’re all in a really good spot and we’re all getting all our needs met.”

Jewel didn't move on from Ty too quickly. It took about two years for her to solidly be linked to someone else. She and Charlie Whitehurst made a move as a couple at the 2017 Pro Bowl. However, it didn't end up being super serious since they split the next year.

Relationship speculation brewed between Jewel and Kevin Costner in December 2023 when the pair were seen on a vacation together, with a source telling Us Weekly that their relationship was growing "organically."

“There’s no pressure of expectation here,” the insider said. “Kevin just wants to go with the flow — and so does she. But the consensus is that he’s found a real keeper in Jewel and that this has the makings of something that could be very special.”

In April 2024, Jewel finally acknowledged the public's speculation. "He's a great person," she told Elle. "The public fascination is intense, for sure." Despite the respect and admiration Jewel and Kevin have for one another, their relationship is strictly platonic. "Jewel and I are friends, we've never gone out, ever," Kevin confirmed during a June 18, 2024 interview with Howard Stern.

While he acknowledged that she's "fantastic" and "beautiful enough to go out with," he doesn't want the dating rumors "to ruin [their] friendship." He further explained how the rumors started: “We were down at Branson's Island. She has a foundation, which I didn't know, and she was part of the foundation. And Richard Branson has been asking me for years to come down to Necker Island, and so I finally did,” he said.

He added that he traveled with nine other people on the plane, including Jewel and Emma Watson.

While he mentioned having some "tremendous conversations with her," he clarified that they didn't board a private plane together for a romantic getaway. Instead, they simply enjoyed each other's company while vacationing separately on Necker Island.