Jewel Moved On With An NFL Player After Her Divorce From Ty Murray

Singer-songwriter Jewel, of 1990s fame, shocked fans in July 2014 when she announced she and her rodeo cowboy husband Ty Murray were divorcing 16 years after tying the knot. The country singer announced the sad news in a lengthy blog post shared on her website (which has since been deleted), writing, "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." 

Jewel went on to describe their split in poetic terms and made sure to note that the duo still cared for each other. She said they would still be "dear friends and devoted co-parents of our beloved son Kase." She added, "We have no desire to damage ourselves and each other in the process."

However, it wasn't too long before Jewel was ready to move on romantically and go public with a new love. In fact, just under a year after announcing her divorce to the world, Jewel found a new love — with an NFL player, no less! That football star? Charlie Whitehurst.

Jewel professed her love for Charlie Whitehurst in May 2016 (four months after she posted a snap with him to her Instagram account), telling People that they'd been together for around a year. However, the singer-songwriter was purposefully cautious about telling the world about her love. "I was very slow about going public. We're not people to go out on 'the scene,'" she said.

Eight months later, Jewel continued to gush over her man during an interview ET, but she admitted that she wasn't planning on heading down the aisle with the NFL star (whose impressive career included stints with the San Diego Chargers, Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts, and Cleveland Browns) anytime soon. "It's not on the horizon at all. I really haven't been thinking along that line — neither of us really have," she explained, noting she didn't believe she had to tie the knot with Whitehurst to make their romance special. 

Jewel also shared that the athlete had forged a relationship with her and Ty Murray's son, Kase. She said there's plenty of reasons she loved Charlie, including his ability to make her laugh. "He is just lovely. He has impeccable character — very smart, very funny," she shared. "He is surprisingly silly ... and in the most charming way. He has a great sense of humor and [is] just very supportive. We travel all over together and have a lot of fun."

We know Jewel and Charlie Whitehurst aren't ones for flaunting their lives in the media, so it's probably no surprise that both have appeared to keep their dating lives under wraps since the singer's public gushing over her man back in 2017. Jewel hasn't posted a photo of the NFL star to her Instagram grid since January 2017, when they went on an adorable ski trip together, and she doesn't appear on Whitehurst's Instagram grid either as of July 2023. However, the super cute athlete-celebrity couple never publicly announced a split and both still follow one another on the social media site.

But regardless of if Jewel and Whitehurst have gone the distance, it sounds like the singer is pretty happy with the way her life has turned out and everything that's happened since she found fame. "It's nice to look back at this 25 years of ups and downs and see where I'm at," she told People in 2020, looking back on her career since she dropped her first album, "Pieces of You," in 1995. "I'm comfortable, and I feel like I made good on my promise to try and be a happy whole human," she added.