Preloading

Alanis Morissette on Skyrocketing to Superstardom: "I Didn't Laugh for About 2 Years"

Season 5 Episode 523
Aired on 09/21/2014 | CC tv-14
In 1995, Alanis Morissette catapulted to fame with the release of her album Jagged Little Pill. The album won four Grammys and sold more than 33 million copies, breaking the record for a U.S. debut by a female artist. "Within a month or two, we were playing stadiums," she says. "So it went from 0 to 650 in 3.5 seconds."

Alanis says that although she had already released two pop albums in Canada as a teenager, she was unprepared for the crush of attention she received. "I remember looking down a lot. I remember I didn't laugh for about two years. A lot of self-protection," she says in the video above. "People would, you know, break into my hotel room while I was doing a show, and leave notes and take things."

Watch as Alanis opens up about what it was like to suddenly go from being an observer of life to being the one who's watched—all the time.

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