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"  June Carter Cash was a little bit obsessed with her teeth. When I started researching her life after I was asked to play her in the movie Ring of Fire, I found out that she had them fixed early on in her career at the suggestion of a manager. June felt it would help her succeed, and her perfect teeth remained a great source of pride throughout her life. I knew that if I wanted to do the role justice, I would have to get prosthetic dentures that matched her beautiful smile. Because I\u2014despite having written 500 songs, having hits in nearly every genre, getting Grammy nominations, singing for a pope and a president\u2014am best known for having crooked teeth. I can&amp;#039;t tell you how many radio-station interviews I&amp;#039;ve done where the DJ fields questions from callers all about my teeth. &amp;quot;Hey, Jewel, you ever gonna fix those horrible teeth?&amp;quot; Numerous dentists call in and offer to fix them for free. One time a DJ said, &amp;quot;You may have heard me describe my next guest as a snaggle-toothed singer from Alaska. Jewel, how are you?&amp;quot; To which I replied, &amp;quot;You must be that small-penised man from South Carolina I&amp;#039;ve heard so much about.&amp;quot; I was promptly taken off the air and dismissed from the studio. I&amp;#039;ve had Hollywood agents tell me I had to fix my teeth if I ever wanted to act. In ad campaigns, my teeth have been Photoshopped to perfection without my knowledge. I suppose because my snaggle would distract from the product I was promoting? When posing at photo shoots, photographers rarely suggest that I smile. They usually say, &amp;quot;I love that little smirk of yours\u2026 that&amp;#039;s it, lips closed. Raise the corners a bit to suggest a smile\u2026 yes!&amp;quot; The first time I saw myself in the dentures, alone in my bathroom, I smiled the big beauty-queen smile I&amp;#039;d never had a chance to practice. I even gave myself a pageant wave to complete the look. I studied myself from every angle, and ran my tongue over their smooth, un jagged surface again and again. It&amp;#039;s not that I felt prettier as much as I suddenly felt\u2026 normal. When I first got signed to a recording contract, I saw other girls in my industry getting nose jobs and boob jobs and chin jobs, because they wanted to gain an acceptance they were unwilling to give themselves. Of course I considered having my teeth fixed. But I knew that if I started down that path, it would be a slippery slope\u2014having come from a broken and dysfunctional home life, I was not the picture of high self-esteem. I was, however, the daughter of pioneers. In Alaska, I was raised on a homestead. We lived off the land, which taught me that hard work pays off. It also taught me one of the most important things I have ever learned, something I still try to live by to this day: Hard wood grows slowly. I know, that isn&amp;#039;t a very flashy life motto, but make no mistake, it is profound. If you want something to last, it has to develop over time. An oak may take a long time to grow, but it lives for hundreds of years. Country living taught me that there are no shortcuts or quick fixes for a meaningful life. I had to figure out real solutions to my problems if I wanted them to be permanent. If I wanted to build a healthy new life, it meant learning to love and accept myself, and to be a friend to myself. It meant forgiving my short comings, accepting my flaws, and finding the courage to not make decisions out of in security. It meant letting people call me &amp;quot;snaggle tooth&amp;quot; or anything else they wanted, without losing my pride. Happiness and self- acceptance wouldn&amp;#039;t come overnight. They were a process, and if I wanted lasting results, I had to commit to that process\u2014even if it was a public one. I had to define beauty for myself.  The funny thing about keeping my teeth the way they are is that I now have fans who salute them as a symbol of defying our culture&amp;#039;s beauty norms. I caused an Internet firestorm when I posted a picture in character as June, because people thought I&amp;#039;d permanently fixed my teeth for the role. I was disowned by fans who vowed never to listen to me again now that they knew I was a &amp;quot;sellout.&amp;quot; I figured things would blow over when they saw, sooner or later, that I have my same crooked smile. I have to admit, though, that I was taken aback by the uproar. I could fix my snaggle or not, and it wouldn&amp;#039;t matter\u2014either way, there would be some who think I&amp;#039;m prettier and some who hate it. There is no way to win but to make yourself happy. Luckily, I have someone by my side who makes that easy for me. During the months of shooting the film, I don&amp;#039;t think a day passed when my husband didn&amp;#039;t comment on how weird it was to see me with those teeth. One night when we had first started dating, I caught him giving me these long, loving glances. &amp;quot;What?&amp;quot; I asked, suspecting I might be in for a gushy compliment from this normally reserved cowboy. &amp;quot;Well, I was just thinking you shouldn&amp;#039;t be pretty.&amp;quot; Okay, not what I expected. &amp;quot;Well,&amp;quot; he stammered, &amp;quot;with that bump in your nose and those teeth, on paper, it doesn&amp;#039;t seem like you should be.&amp;quot; I stared at him in dumb shock, before he added: &amp;quot;But you are stunning. You are an uncommon beauty, nothing generic about you. You are absolutely perfect the way you are and I wouldn&amp;#039;t change a thing.&amp;quot; No wonder he couldn&amp;#039;t wait for those dentures to come off. Though it was fun to finally see myself with perfect teeth, I was ready to get my old smile back. I&amp;#039;ve fought hard through many years of ridicule to feel pretty despite my flaws. I&amp;#039;m happy with my teeth\u2014they&amp;#039;re healthy and white and very crooked, and they&amp;#039;re part of me. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/beauty/interviews/a15275/jewel-interview-on-her-crooked-teeth/>