Sheryl Crow gets candid about sexual harassment, depression and fighting cancer in new documentary
Sheryl Crow wasnât initially keen to document her life.
âIâve always felt like documentaries were told after someone has already gone or after a fiery plane crash,â she said at a recent Television Critics Association panel.
But her manager of 30 years, Scooter Weintraub, convinced Crow that her decades as a woman in the music business meant she had a potent story to tell.
So the perennial hitmaker accepted the assignment of âremembering, reflecting and revisitingâ her life.
The result is âSheryl,â a 90-minute documentary debuting Friday on Showtime (9 p.m. EDT/PDT).
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Directed by Amy Scott (âHalâ), the film encompasses Crowâs noteworthy career, touching on the songwriting credit scandals with her Tuesday Night Music Club (her band on breakthrough 1994 smash âAll I Wanna Doâ and also the name of her multiplatinum debut album), the making of her three subsequent mega-selling albums (âSheryl Crow,â âThe Globe Sessionsâ and âCâmon Câmonâ), her struggles with depression and her breast cancer fight.
The documentary also includes interviews with a varied cast from Crow's orbit: Keith Richards, Jason Isbell and longtime friend and former roommate Laura Dern.
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Crow, at 60, is a legacy artist in the most complimentary sense. But itâs a term she says she struggled with because âI thought, oh, that just means youâre old and youâve been around long enough to be put in the category of legacy.â
But âfor me, itâs all about gratitude,â she says. âI play (these songs) with total gratitude because I know itâs not an everyday thing to become the soundtrack to peopleâs lives.â
Here are some key revelations from the documentary:
Why Crow was 'terrified' during Michael Jackson tour
Most fans already know that Crowâs early career break arrived with a role in Michael Jacksonâs 1987 Bad tour. Footage of her massive helmet of hair and teeny skirt as she sang âI Just Canât Stop Loving Youâ with Jackson onstage is juxtaposed with Crow talking now about offstage activities, such as watching âAmos ânâ Andyâ in a hotel room with Jackson and his chimp, Bubbles.
âI was naive," Crow says, "but I still thought it was weird that there were a couple of little boys on the tour with him. It makes me sad for the life he had and obviously sad for the children.â
Crowâs two-year stint with Jackson dovetails with the sexual harassment she alleges she experienced from his late manager, Frank DiLeo, which she also documented in 2020's audiobook memoir, "Words + Music." âIt was a constant battle to keep him off of me," she says. She finally contacted an attorney (âI was terrified,â she recalls) who told her to soldier through because âthere are people who would die to be in this situation.â
Her Lilith Fair days were an inspiration for Brandi Carlile
While Sarah McLachlan spearheaded Lilith Fair, the all-female touring ensemble that launched in 1997 with artists including Jewel, Tracy Chapman, the Indigo Girls, Fiona Apple and Emmylou Harris, Crow was a fervent supporter and participant.
The tour was inspirational for at least one fledgling musician, Brandi Carlile, who shares onstage at one of her own concerts that she saw Lilith Fair in the same venue as a teenager. The female-centric concept showed her that, âI can get out there with a guitar and be the boss.â
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Crow wrote 'C'mon C'mon' in the throes of deep depression
Crow is open about her struggles with depression. In an affecting segment, she candidly talks about how she was so emotionally crippled writing her âCâmon Câmonâ album that she doesnât remember penning its final track, âWeather Channel,â a song that sighs with sadness.
As Crow plays it on her acoustic guitar in the documentary, the effects of its lyrics about the onset of suffocating emotions still visibly rattle her core. âI got lab coats/who will bring me a panacea/while Iâm watching the weather channel/and waiting for the storm,â she sings with eyes closed. The âblack dog that scratches my doorâ in the lyrics is, Crow thinks, a reference to how Winston Churchill described his descent into darkness.
âJust a little happy song about suicidal tendencies,â she says with a wry smile and teary eyes.
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'I felt like I didn't deserve it': Her reaction to being stalked by paparazzi after her breast cancer diagnosis
In the early 2000s, Crow engaged in a high-profile relationship with cyclist Lance Armstrong. âThe first year, it was fantastic,â she says. âI was ready to get married.â
Their engagement fizzled in 2006, but Crow remains philosophical about their time together. âIt does get complicated when you have to dim your light to be in somebody elseâs light,â she says as her song âStrong Enoughâ plays in the background. The line âlie to meâ is timed to footage of Armstrong denying doping allegations made against him. (In 2013, Armstrong admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.)
Shortly after their breakup, Crow went for a routine mammogram, leading to her breast cancer diagnosis. âThe craving to see pictures of me at my worst, I was (mad). I felt like I didnât deserve it,â she says of being followed by the paparazzi while undergoing treatment.
Joe Walsh appears to talk about how Crow helped his wife, Marjorie Bach, after she, too, was diagnosed with breast cancer. âShe taught my wife (that) you have to get educated, you have to learn about it, and then you can deal with it. ⊠Sheryl is a survivor,â Walsh says.
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