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PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

Profiles of Mike Tyson, Jewel, Morgan Freeman

Aired June 1, 2002 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Next, on PEOPLE IN THE NEWS, his toughest fights have been as much out of the ring as in it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD HOFFER, SENIOR WRITER, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": He lives large. He lives strange and he lives hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: From boxing phenom to convicted felon to media side show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERT SUGAR, BOXING ANALYST: He is assured an attraction. They want to see what the hell he's going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Boxing bad boy, Mike Tyson.

Then, she's the sultry songwriter who's come a long way from her days of living in a van.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEWEL: I hope to always make great records. I don't think they'll always sell big.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: From poverty to platinum, singer and author and recovering cowgirl, Jewel.

Also, the action movie that's chillingly close to reality.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN FREEMAN, ACTOR: We make movies based on fantasy all the time, sometimes though for tales.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: The veteran star of "The Sum of All Fears," Morgan Freeman. Their stories and more now on PEOPLE IN THE NEWS.

PAULA ZAHN, HOST: Welcome to PEOPLE IN THE NEWS. I'm Paula Zahn.

In our pop culture, Mike Tyson has taken on the role of Darth Vader, a dark, sinister force capable of anything at any time. In or out of the ring, Tyson is a draw people watch. Millions are expected to tune into Tyson's title bout with heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. And they will likely do so out of curiosity more than a love of boxing.

Tyson's life and career is a theater of the absurd. Here is Mike Galanos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE GALANOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's the bad boy of boxing, a force of nature impossible to ignore. He's charismatic, explosive and above all, controversial.

MIKE TYSON, BOXER: I normally don't do anything with woman unless I fornicate with them. You shouldn't talk anymore unless you want to, you know.

GALANOS: As Mike Tyson prepared for us upcoming fight with Lennox Lewis; he was throwing plenty of jabs at the media.

TYSON: I wish one of your guys had showed up, I would kick him in the head or something, their testicles, so he could feel my pain because that's the pain I have.

SUGAR: Mike Tyson's smarter than anybody thinks he is. He knows what he is doing. Sometimes he gets out of control, but he knows what he's doing. And every time he does that and the press tells or it's to dream to write about it, the cash registers go kaching, kaching, kaching, kaching.

GALANOS: Is there a method to Tyson's rants or is it is madness?

TYSON: I think the average person believes that I'm a nut and I deserved whatever happened to me. That's what I believe.

HOFFER: He lives large. He lives strange and he lives hard.

GALANOS: Born in 1966, Michael Gerard Tyson grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, the third child of a single mother.

TYSON: They would say he's a maniac kid, but where I came from, there were people who murdered people. I wasn't a murderer.

GALANOS: Tyson was no saint either.

LARRY SUTTON, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, "PEOPLE MAGAZINE": By the time he was 13 years old, he had been arrested 38 times, which is incredible. He stole -- he was pick pocketing. He used to go on buses into Brooklyn and sort of roll the old ladies and roll the drunks who were there.

GALANOS: At age 12, Tyson was sent to a reform school in upstate New York where he discovered the sport of boxing. He showed so much potential he was brought to the attention of legendary trainer, Cus D'Amato, who had made Floyd Patterson a champion.

TYSON: He took a thought and he turned it in a growing raid -- a growing rage.

GALANOS: At age 13, Tyson went to live with D'Amato at his home in Catskill, New York. D'Amato became Tyson's legal guardian when Tyson's mother was dying of cancer. And he put his protege on a crash course of Boxing 101.

SUGAR: Cus D'Amato adopted him at a small age and took him to his home and taught him manners, ability and boxing not in that order. All he wanted was a heavy weight champion and he was going to get.

TEDDY ATLAS, FORMER TYSON TRAINER: There was things happening. There were situations where he was out of control early and it was being catered to him rather than being dealt with.

GALANOS: In November 1985, D'Amato died at the age of 77. Mike Tyson was just 19 years old.

TYSON: He looked after me like I was his son and I did the same. Besides boxing, it's just -- it's tough living without him. And I think about him all the time.

GALANOS: But D'Amato had created a ruthless force in the ring. Tyson won his first 19 fights by knockout, 12 in the first round.

ATLAS: He outgrew boys. He had great talent, could punch with either hand, great speed and his technique was great. He got in positions where he exposed guys and he could use his quick hands and his power to unleash on guys.

GALANOS: In September 1986, Tyson got a title shot and he made the most of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was a right to body and an upper cut to the head and Berbick is down.

GALANOS: He knocked out Trevor Berbick in the second round. At age 20, Mike Tyson became the youngest ever heavyweight champion of the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we have a new era in boxing.

TYSON: Emotionally, it was a tough strain, but I wanted the championship so bad. And like I said before, there was no way I was leaving the ring without the belt, walking at least.

SUGAR: Mike Tyson did exactly what heavyweights should do. He dispatched his opponent quickly, euthanasically, boom, out. GALANOS: Tyson would claim all three heavyweight title belts and become the undisputed king of boxing. Just barely into his 20's, he had gone from being a troubled youth to an international star with all the fame and fortune that went with it.

TYSON: I like Suntory dry.

GALANOS: Tyson quickly became a tabloid fixture especially after his 1998 marriage to actress Robin Givens.

TYSON: This is changing completely. You know what I mean. I used to always have girlfriends. I don't even want to look at another woman.

GALANOS: But the union proved to be a stormy one.

SUTTON: The marriage between Mike Tyson and Robin Givens was a disaster from day one both physically -- beatings and abuse. I mean you -- there were pictures of Robin Givens with black eyes, for example. Mike Tyson is a guy who when he lost his temper lost his temper.

GALANOS: A string of incidents kept Tyson on the front pages. In August 1988, he broke his hand in a street fight with boxer Mitch Green. Less than two weeks later, Tyson was knocked unconscious after crashing a BMW into a tree.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give him a break! Good!

GALANOS: A New York tabloid called the incident a suicide attempt. Tyson denied it. Then, Tyson and Givens were interviewed together on national television by Barbara Walters.

SUTTON: The two of them sat there side-by-side and Robin Givens basically said, "This guy beats me up." It wasn't a laughing matter. Mike Tyson sat there kind of docile and he said, "Well, yeah, that sort of happens." And it kind of opened the door into what was going on into the world, a very troubled world of their marriage.

GALANOS: A week later, Givens filed for divorce. It would become official on Valentine's Day, 1989 just a year after they married.

TYSON: I like being married. There were times when it was good and I even dealt with the times when it wasn't good. I jumped into the situation totally emotional. I just jumped in emotional and I just wanted someone to love and love somebody and just be a regular guy. And I didn't understand the responsibility of the situation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Free at last. Free at last...

GALANOS: But while Tyson was taking a beating in his personal life, in the ring, it was Tyson's opponents who were getting pummeled.

By February 1990, Tyson was 37-0 with 33 knockouts. The most spectacular victory, his 91-second destruction of the previously unbeaten Michael Sphinx.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he's down again and in serious trouble.

HOFFER: He brought into the ring this electricity that people just folded at the sight of him and that was part of his performance, was to see the other person psychologically crumble right in front of him.

GALANOS: However, Tyson would face a fighter who didn't back down, little known heavyweight Buster Douglas. In a fight in Japan, Douglas floored Tyson in the tenth round...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What an upper cut by Douglas.

GALANOS: ... handing him the first loss of his professional career.

SUGAR: His loss to Buster Douglas in 1990, it was not just the biggest upset in the world of boxing; it was the biggest upset in the history of sports. Forty-two to one were the odds, 42 to one.

GALANOS: Tyson returned home to plan his comeback.

TYSON: Well, this was a bad situation at the time but I'll be OK. Buster Douglas fought a great fight and I'll be champion again within six months.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got mine. Will there be a rematch?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GALANOS: But as Mike Tyson's story continues, his dreams of recapturing a title gets knocked out by a self-inflicted blow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUGAR: The question was -- now where does he go? Unfortunately, where he went was out of control.

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ANNOUNCER: Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEWEL: Hold onto to your life...

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ANNOUNCER: Jewel takes a fall and bounces back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEWEL: As long as my bones keep healing and I can hit the high notes, we should be all right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: When PEOPLE IN THE NEWS continues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEWEL: Just ask me to feel your love again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Now back to PEOPLE IN THE NEWS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TYSON: I always wanted to be the best and I always knew that it was going to happen ever since I started. If I feel down, I just got to brush myself off and keep going.

GALANOS: In June 1990, Mike Tyson was back in the gym anxious to avenge the first loss of his professional career and to put his personal life back in order.

TYSON: People say Mike Tyson has a these personal problems and they don't affect him. But you know, it's really not the personal problems, it's the aftermath of the personal problems, you know, the anger, going to court, religious, and being active as much as possible and stuff. And then, the longer you stay away from fighting, the -- it's harder to get back.

GALANOS: Tyson won four straight fights after his shocking knockout loss to Buster Douglas, but the next blow to his career would come at his own hands. In July of 1991, he visited the Miss Black America Pageant in Indianapolis. There, he met 18-year-old contestant, Desiree Washington and the two went to his hotel room.

JEFFREY MODISETT, PROSECUTOR, MARION COUNTY, INDIANA: The victim was led to believe that her meeting with Tyson was to be platonic. In fact, however, Tyson intended have sexual relations with her. When she refused his advances, Tyson had forced nonconsensual sex with the victim.

GALANOS: Tyson was indicted and in February 1992, was convicted of one count of rape and two counts of deviate conduct. The sentence, 10 years in an Indiana prison, four suspended.

TYSON: I'm not angry at her. I just -- I just despise the actions.

LARRY KING, HOST, LARRY KING LIVE: But not angry or you...

TYSON: No.

KING: ... want to see her harmed?

TYSON: No, not at all. It wouldn't bring me any benefit to see her harmed

KING: Does this have any bearing on your fighting again?

TYSON: I'm in a state now, William. I love fighting. It's not that I can't do anything else. It's just that fighting's what I -- ever -- all I ever wanted to do. I never wanted to do anything else.

KING: So you'll do it again?

TYSON: I want to do it. There's nothing wrong with it.

KING: So you will fight again?

TYSON: Exactly.

GALANOS: Tyson converted to Islam in prison. And in March 1995, after spending three years behind bars, the 28-year-old former champion was released. His first stop, a Muslim mosque where he prayed with Muhammad Ali.

MUHAMMAD SIDDEEQ, TYSON SPIRITUAL ADVISER: Mike is a branded man. He has sincerely given himself to God.

GALANOS: In later interviews, he talked of making a new start.

TYSON: I get a chance to look back at my life in retrospect and just to clean up a lot of cobwebs in my closet and I feel pretty good for myself so far.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to fit again?

TYSON: Things happen in life and it's not about -- I was high to get a life, but how many times do you pick yourself up after you fall down and keep striving and don't let it affect you, but just gives you motivation to keep on striving and do the right things in life.

GALANOS: Tyson began training for a comeback and found his bank ability had skyrocketed during his time away.

HOFFER: We always thought Mike is crazy and -- but now, he was certified. So I mean, he was the real thing and he could be sold as the stark force, this presence that was evil and -- I mean it was legitimately evil. We had courts had told us so.

GALANOS: With promoter Don King leading the way, Tyson made a lucrative and carefully orchestrated return. His first opponent journeyman, optimist and poet Peter McNeeley.

PETER MCNEELEY, BOXER: I'm heavyweight champion Peter McNeeley from Medfield, Mass. On Saturday night, watch me kick Tyson's ass.

GALANOS: The fight lasted 89 seconds.

SUGAR: I went out to Vegas and I told the cab driver to leave the meter running. I'd be right out. I knew that fight was going to end somewhere between oh say and can you see. GALANOS: Similar mismatches followed. Tyson regained his heavyweight title and would earn more than $100 million in less than two years. But while Tyson enjoyed his riches, mansions and unusual pets, he was still fighting the stigma of his rape conviction.

TYSON: People that don't know me -- they know me just from boxing. They look at me. They really think I'm an animal. They think I'm some sad -- I go in there, I knock guys out. I fight. I get a bunch of money. I screw a bunch of girls and buy them a bunch of fancy cars and all this to lure people to be attracted to me. And so they don't understand. You know, I'm pretty much cultivated.

GALANOS: In November 1996, Tyson returned to the ring to battle another underdog Evander Holyfield, a fighter considered on the downside of his career.

SUGAR: In that whole fight, Tyson and Holyfield turned on one thing. Holyfield was not intimidated.

GALANOS: Tyson lost in the eleventh round.

TYSON: Man, I just want to shake your hand. I mean it's been so long. I mean I just want to touch you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right on. That's what I want to see. Congratulations.

TYSON: I fought and gave my best. I was tired and you just kept fighting. And I got caught in something strange and then, he fought a hell of a fight. And I just commend you.

GALANOS: The inevitable rematch set a pay-per-view record and was the richest fight in boxing history with both fighters receiving $30 million a piece. It began with Holyfield again dominating and frustrating Tyson. It ended with Tyson turning cannibalistic.

EVANDER HOLYFIELD, FOUR-TIME HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION: It was just real simple. When he did it, it bothered me so mad -- you know, I went back in there to get him and as soon as I hit him with a good (UNINTELLIGIBLE), he bit me again.

ATLAS: He bit to get out of the fight. He could not intimidate him. He had to fight him on an even playing field, a fair playing field, where you have resolve not just fast hands and strength, resolve, character, strength inside. He didn't have that so he found a way to get out.

GALANOS: Tyson's reputation was tarnished forever.

HOFFER: He doesn't look creditable. He doesn't look sane and he just doesn't look real anymore.

JAY LENO, HOST, TONIGHT SHOW: So far this year more people have been bitten by celebrities than by sharks.

GALANOS: Tyson became a national punch line. DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, THE LATE SHOW: Bite me right there. Go ahead.

GALANOS: And though he apologized for his actions...

TYSON: Saturday night was the worst night of my professional career as a boxer and I'm here to apologize today, to ask the people to expect -- to the people that expect more from Mike Tyson, to forgive me for snapping in the ring.

GALANOS: It was not enough. In July 1997, Mike Tyson was stripped of his boxing license.

MARC RATNER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEVADA ATHLETE COMMISSION: Boxing is a sport and there's certain things you can do and certain things you can't do. And they felt this was reprehensible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GALANOS: When Tyson's story continues, more comebacks and more bizarre behavior.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lennox Lewis.

ZAHN: For all of Hurricane Peter McNeeley's tough talk, it took Mike Tyson less than two minutes to send him to the canvas. It was a humiliating loss, one that could have wrecked most careers, but not McNeeley's, which leads us to ask -- where are they now?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCNEELEY: And I wrapped Mike Tyson in a cocoon of horror.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: While Hurricane Peter McNeeley didn't exactly wrap Iron Mike in a cocoon of horror, he will also always be remembered as Mike Tyson's first opponent after his release from prison.

The son of a former heavyweight contender, he also made one of the highest grossing pay-per-views ever. So where is Peter McNeeley now?

McNeeley played up his newfound stardom going toe-to-toe with a slice from Pizza Hut. The Hurricane still lives in Medfield, Mass. where he's active in many local charities and he continues to fight, headlining a Las Vegas bout against Eric Betterfin Ash (ph). If you're looking for an attraction, McNeeley's on call to Fox. According to the Hurricane, have gloves, will travel.

MCNEELEY: Man, get out of the way. I'm fighting today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: We now return to PEOPLE IN THE NEWS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GALANOS: Mike Tyson rolled into Las Vegas in September 1998 with one goal in mind -- getting his boxing license reinstated by the Nevada Athletic Commission.

TYSON: I feel like I'm Norman Bates up here with all the doctors and everything here, but trust me; this won't happen anymore, man. I've learned. I am so sorry. I am sorry, yes, I'm sorry.

GALANOS: During the licensing hearings, Tyson was joined by his second wife Dr. Monica Turner, the mother of two of Tyson's four children. The couple got married the year before.

Missing? Former promoter Don King. Tyson was suing him for $100 million for allegedly taking too much from Tyson's purses. King denies the allegations and the suit is still pending.

Back at the hearings, the Commission sent Tyson to undergo psychological testing.

TYSON: There's nothing wrong with me. I'm not going to bite anybody's ears. You see that I'm devastated from the fact that this happened. And I'm just -- I'm at your guy's mercy. Please don't torture me any longer, sir.

GALANOS: They didn't. With a four-to-one vote, boxing's biggest draw was back in business.

JIM JIMMERSON, TYSON'S ATTORNEY: And mike knows this may very well be his last chance.

GALANOS: Tyson began preparing for his second comeback in a bout against Francois Botha. Tyson's pre-fight press conference in January 1999 was more like a stand up routine.

TYSON: I'm a very good boy, yes, ma'am. I love white people, guys. I love you. I love you all.

GALANOS: One-on-one, Tyson was at times defiant.

TYSON: It kills them that I'm still coherent, I'm still around and I'm still -- even though, they hear I have tax problems, I would still go out and spend a million dollars on clothes if I wanted to. It's just -- it kills everybody that I live my life the way I want to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think it kills everybody? It does hang...

TYSON: Yeah, it kills them. It kills them. I know it kills them. GALANOS: And at other times, Tyson was more reflective.

TYSON: I'm a kind person. I'm not a friendly person, I'm just kind because my mother was kind, you know what I mean? But I'm hard because Cus was hard. And he was mean and he was strong and he gave me that.

GALANOS: But Tyson's career was again derailed by another run-in with the law. Tyson scuffled with two motorists at Maryland intersection after a minor traffic accident in August of 1998. He pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and in February of 1999, Mike Tyson went back to prison.

Tyson spent three-and-a-half months behind bars and then embarked on yet another comeback. In the ring, he was sloppy and undisciplined, hitting Orlin Norris after the bell and pushing a referee aside in a fight against Lou Savarese.

SUGAR: Mike Tyson came back with X skills, no bobbing and no weaving, which was always his defensive mechanism. Mike Tyson of today ain't the Mike Tyson of old.

GALANOS: Tyson's fights took him around the world drawing huge crowds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's the king of ring, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tyson's the one.

GALANOS: But he was getting as much attention for his mouth as for his fists.

TYSON: There's me, Jeffrey Dahmer and whoever was on the line-up and they said, well, we know the crimes that these guys have committed, but who do you hate the most and who do you think we should kill? Everybody would point to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you really believe that?

TYSON: Hell, yeah. Hell, yeah.

GALANOS: Even more disturbing, after beating Lou Saverese in June 2000, Tyson addressed Lennox Lewis saying -- quote -- "I want your heart. I want to eat your children."

ATLAS: That was in (UNINTELLIGIBLE), in a karate movie. I saw the movie. I know the exact lines of that movie. This is a man who doesn't come with his own material.

SUGAR: It's Mike Tyson acting in a way he thinks others would have him act and listening to the last person he talked to, heard or read.

ATLAS: He is not sure of himself. That's why he uses other people's identities. He is very, very unsure so he tries to use these kind of things to scare somebody so his job will be easier. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iron Mike Tyson.

GALANOS: This January, Tyson attended a press conference to announce his title fight against Lewis and it turned into a melee. And Tyson launched into an obscene tirade.

TYSON: Come on you scared coward. You got (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with me. You can't last two minutes in my world.

SUGAR: He has again transcended boxing.

TYSON: You're scared like a little white (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

SUGAR: This is not a boxing match most people want to see. They want to see what the hell he's going to do.

GALANOS: It's an image and persona that Tyson blames on the media.

TYSON: That's why I can't -- I won't talk nice to you and talk about (UNINTELLIGIBLE) with you. Then you suck (UNINTELLIGIBLE) because if I was eloquent with you, you would still look at me as a scumbag. It won't work. You have your perception of me. You elicit your perception of me from the cameras, from the news, so I give you what you want and I am (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

GALANOS: Tyson will earn at least $17.5 million for fighting Lewis, money he reportedly needs.

"Sports Illustrated" says Tyson is broke. And the fighter himself is quoted as saying, "I've blown a half billion." Yet, whatever his financial condition, whatever his mental state of character, the man who was once the youngest heavyweight champion ever is fighting to be champion once again. Yet another twist to a story that has been equally remarkable and controversial.

HOFFER: He'll be remembered for all the wrong things, I think, but it is important to remember also that he was not nothing. I mean, even at his worst, he was a pretty powerful performer, and you know, at his best, he was a sensation.

ATLAS: Mike Tyson was a comet, Halley's Comet. He was not a planet. A comet streaks across the sky and it burns bright and it's magnificent. And it has got speed, and I guess that means it has talent, but it doesn't have substance. Substance is a planet.

TYSON: I'm 36 years old going on 37. I never dream dreamed of living this long, I never dreamed of fornicating with as many beautiful women as I did and having as much money as I did, and having as beautiful and intelligent kids as I did.

So if I was to die tomorrow, I've won. I've won. I've won.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Mike Tyson squares off against reigning heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis next Saturday night at the Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee.

ANNOUNCER: Coming up, Jewel talks careers, cowboys and cars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEWEL: I was glad to live in a car when I did. You know, it was fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: And later...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE SUM OF ALL FEARS)

FREEMAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Morgan Freeman faces "The Sum of All Fears." That's all still ahead on PEOPLE IN THE NEWS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Welcome back to PEOPLE IN THE NEWS.

With another platinum album and a North American tour in the works, it seems shocking that Jewel recently considered walking away from popular music altogether. She obviously didn't. But if she had, there were certainly plenty of options for Jewel beyond just singer/songwriter. Here's Gail O'Neill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

GAIL O'NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Singer Jewel's lyrics reflect the philosophy of her life -- hope and humanity.

The 28-year-old musician is also an author, with two books under her belt and a book of poetry in the works.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are partners in a family business, and family business is kind of the backbone of American business.

JEWEL: My mom is very, very talented. She has a tremendous grace and a tremendous intelligence. I always benefited from that as an artist, as a person, and as a business person.

O'NEILL: When she's not on tour or shooting music videos, Jewel trades in her Gucci duds for a pair of wranglers, and heads to boyfriend and rodeo champion Ty Murray's ranch in Texas. But a recent horse riding accident on the ranch landed Jewel out of the saddle.

JEWEL: Yeah, I am fine. It's a broken collarbone, a broken rib. I got when I was bucked off a horse. But you know, I don't have to be in a cast as you can see. I won't be playing my guitar for a while, but I'll be able to sing, and get around and have people wait on me. So I'll milk it for all it's worth.

(MUSIC)

JEWEL: I mean, as long as my bones keep healing. We all get hurt every day. It's not like I relish getting hurt or I relish dangerous activities, but I love riding and I don't see me stopping that.

O'NEILL: Jewel is used to facing challenges. From her hugged upbringing in the Alaskan wilderness and her parents' divorce, to living in a van and singing on street corners for change. Jewel is a survivor.

JEWEL: I'd rather be known for taking chances than I would be playing the hit.

O'NEILL: She's taken risks throughout her young life.

Jewel Kilcher was born in 1974 in Payson, Utah. Her mother and father moved the family to Anchorage, Alaska, and then divorced when she was 6 years old. Jewel, along with her two brothers, was raised by her father in a remote cabin on an 800-acre homestead in Homer, Alaska. The cabin had no electricity or running water, an outhouse for a bathroom and only a cold stove for heat.

As a young girl, Jewel sang in local bars with her father, Atz, who was also a musician. Jewel has described her relationship with him as "challenging." But out of their love for music, they continued to perform together.

In high school, she won a scholarship to the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. After graduating in 1992, Jewel headed to San Diego to be near her mother Lenedra and launch her music career. It would be a time of struggle and sacrifice. To save money, they moved into their VW vans while Jewel landed gigs in local coffee houses.

JEWEL: I was glad to live in the car when I did. You know, it was fun, but I'm glad I'm still not doing it.

O'NEILL: It was her mother's support and guidance that helped Jewel through her difficult early years of her career.

JEWEL: I thought maybe I'd just go put demos on every building in Los Angeles, but she told me to wait and first figure out why I wanted to be in the business at all. And it really made me face myself, face a lot of fears, a lot of needs, but also ultimately get to the fact that I love humanity and I like singing because I feel less alone.

O'NEILL: Her struggling paid off. At 19, a scout from Atlantic Records discovered Jewel after he saw her perform in a San Diego coffee house. Impressed with her delicate soprano voice and intimate lyrics, the label asked her to sign a deal.

Two years later, Jewel's debut album, "Pieces of You," was released, and sold over eight million copies. Jewel was becoming a star.

In 1999, Jewel spent the year on the road promoting her second album, "Spirit." After non-stop travel for over a year, Jewel felt burnt out and decided to take a break from the music world.

JEWEL: I wasn't happy. I didn't enjoy fame enough to let go of writing. And into my last tour, I longed for simplicity. It means letting go. It means like what I did, touring, I may sell less records. You have to let go of that.

O'NEILL: Her time off allowed her to reconnect with the artist inside. After a two-year hiatus, Jewel returned to music. Driven by the need to raise money for a charity she was hoping to launch, she started singing again and got back on the road.

Last November, she released her fourth album, "This Way." Jewel wrote all the songs on the album, a sampling of folk, pop, country and blues.

JEWEL: I love this single. It's called "Break Me." It's very different. A very stark, very poetic love song. No big rhythm track, no big urban sounds. I love the track. I think it's my favorite video I've ever done.

O'NEILL: Jewel also continues to write poetry. In 1998, she published "A Knight Without Armor," a book of poems that became a national best-seller. Two years later she wrote "Chasing Down the Dawn," an intimate account of her life on the road.

(AUDIO/VIDEO GAP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: .. based on two of her passions. One is her passion for artistry and artistic expression, and the other is her interest in making a difference.

O'NEILL: Still young in her music career, Jewel manages to find a balance in an often demanding business.

JEWEL: I'm very happy with my career. I've found a rhythm that has worked for me. I tour for three weeks and I get 10 days off. I'm able to take those 10 days and write, rather than just working constantly.

O'NEILL: From her humble musical beginnings, playing in bars with her father, to singing in coffee houses, Jewel still loves to perform live.

JEWEL: I love it. There's nothing like it. And you have to win every night. A new crowd, a new and potentially hostile crowd. I like that. I hope to always make great records. I don't think they'll always sell big. It may look like failure sometimes to industry standards. But I know that it's going to be something that allows me to keep growing and changing, have a career that's hopefully very long.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ANNOUNCER: Coming up, terrorists. A nuclear attack. Relax, it's just a movie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: We make movies based on fantasy all the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Morgan Freeman sums up our fears on film, when PEOPLE IN THE NEWS continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: A terrorist conspiracy. A missing nuclear bomb. It's "The Sum of All Fears," and Morgan Freeman has to make sure it does not turn into World War III. Coming up, a Hollywood thriller strikes a chilling note of reality.

But first, here's this week's passages.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Millie Benson, who captured young girls' hearts with her Nancy Drew novels died Tuesday in Toledo, Ohio. Writing under the pen name Carolyn Keen, Benson penned 23 of the first 30 Drew books, which have sold over 200 million copies. In her later life, she earned her pilot's license and took solo flights across the U.S. and Central America. Millie Benson was 96.

Move over, Ozzy. You have some company. E! Television has given the green light for a reality cable show on the daily life of former Playmate turned embattled widow Anna Nicole Smith. E! (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Smith based on the ratings success of the her "True Hollywood Story." The show is set to bust out in late July.

Can the home of newlywed supermodel Claudia Schiffer be haunted? According to Britain's Ghost Club, a ghost named Penelope visits the English property recently purchased by Schiffer and her new hubby, Matthew Vaughn. The couple is on honeymoon and could not be reached for comment. No word if the house is also haunted by out-of-date fashions like the leisure suit.

For more frighteningly good celebrity news, pick up a copy of "People" magazine this week. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: Since September 11, Hollywood has been understandably reluctant about releasing films that deal with terrorism or plots against the United States. The first movie to truly test the waters this summer is "The Sum of All Fears." The film stars Morgan Freeman, who plays a CIA director and mentor to a young Jack Ryan, played by Ben Affleck. But Freeman is also a target in this latest thriller from Tom Clancy, the target of a disturbingly realistic terrorist nuclear attack on the United States. More now in this week's "Screen Scene."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SUM OF ALL FEARS")

FREEMAN: What are three Russian atomic scientists doing in the Ukraine?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the new espionage thriller, "The Sum of All Fears," actor Morgan Freeman is in a battle like no other.

But to many involved in Tom Clancy's latest franchise, the line between fantasy and reality has blurred.

FREEMAN: The effect that 9/11 has on all of us is the fact that -- not that we've always known that we have porous borders and that we're vulnerable to this sort of thing, but that we didn't know we had anybody that disliked us enough to do that to us.

PHIL ROBINSON, DIRECTOR: A year ago, you'd have said, "great popcorn film." Today you say, "that's about the world I live in."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In "The Sum of All Fears," Freeman plays William Cabbot, a seasoned CIA director who's faced with a sinister neo-Nazi plot to draw the United States and Russia into World War III.

BEN AFFLECK, ACTOR: It is an alarmist, cautionary tale about -- in particular about nuclear weapons and the need to safeguard them and the need to protect them and the need to monitor and police the people with the expertise to build and detonate these weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Freeman relies on the talents of a rookie CIA analyst Jack Ryan, played by Ben Affleck. But this young hero is like no other.

FREEMAN: This is probably the first time in memory, in mine anyway, where the hero didn't cut the right wire just in the nick of time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Reprising the role of Jack Ryan made famous by Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford, Affleck faced his own personal pressure while making the film.

AFFLECK: I didn't want to be the guy that made the bad Jack Ryan movie, for one thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SUM OF ALL FEARS")

AFFLECK: I work for the CIA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACE NEUFELD, PRODUCER: I think he played that role very well, and I think he's our new Jack Ryan. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Freeman, age 65, and a veteran of more than 40 films, enjoyed giving his young protege a hard time.

FREEMAN: He's very, very smart. He's paying back. Let's face it, somebody like me, sort of old, over the hill, having to deal with somebody like that. It's just, you know, life shouldn't throw these kind of things at you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As a young boy growing up in Mississippi, Morgan Freeman always knew he was going to be an actor.

FREEMAN: I lived through coming up very impressionable kid, very theatrical-minded, wanting to be in theater, wanted to be in the movies, liking the movies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But Freeman had to wait until he was 50, over the hill by Hollywood standards, for his first on-screen leading role.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "STREET SMART")

FREEMAN: You don't believe I'll blow your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) brains out?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEAH ROZEN, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: In "Street Smart," Morgan Freeman plays this really nasty, threatening pimp. And every time he was on screen, you were scared. And he did that very effectively.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two years later, in 1989, Freeman's career took a dramatic turn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "DRIVING MISS DAISY")

JESSICA TANDY, ACTRESS: What are you doing?

FREEMAN: I'm trying to drive you to the store.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In "Driving Miss Daisy," Freeman played Hawk, a character he created off Broadway and perfected on the big screen. That performance brought his second Academy Award nomination and the attention of Hollywood.

ROZEN: It was one of those rare cases where Hollywood actually did justice and gave the person who created the role on stage the role in the movie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His third Oscar nod came in the form of 1994's "Shawshank Redemption." Freeman attributed this role to the work of a higher power.

FREEMAN: This is a case where you think, there is an angel that follows me around, and every now and then, she sees something, and she taps it with her magic wand, and my name appears in somebody's mind. Otherwise, I don't understand. I can't explain it at all.

ANNE-MARIE O'NEILL, SENIOR EDITOR, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: People think of him as someone who is well liked, certainly. But above all, I think really well respected, highly regarded as an actor and as a person. He plays these roles with the moral authority of the person of character within a movie, the person who's always right and correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that on-screen presence has led to an off-screen reputation that has not been ignored.

FREEMAN: Somebody told me in Los Angeles, you have the moral authority of acting. You are the moral authority of acting. I said, wow, that's -- that's a heavy weight to lay on somebody. She said, you got it, buddy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After 30 years in the business, a hefty title bestowed on a true Hollywood heavyweight.

FREEMAN: "The Sum of all Fears" -- to me, that was another situation where that angel tapped something and my name appeared in someone's mind. I say, OK, what do you do with that? Say, well, hey, take it and run.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SUM OF ALL FEARS")

FREEMAN: Welcome to the CIA, sport.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: We're going to find out this weekend if audiences are ready for a film like "The Sum of All Fears." The movie opened nationwide on Friday.

That is it for this edition of PEOPLE IN THE NEWS. Coming up next week, Queen Elizabeth's golden jubilee, 50 years of royal trials and tribulations.

I'm Paula Zahn. Thanks so much for joining us, and be sure to join me every weekday morning for "AMERICAN MORNING" right here on CNN. Have a good weekend.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com



 
 
 
 


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