The Dancing With the Stars curse has hit again. Celebrity ballroom competitors Jewel and Nancy O'Dell have dropped out of the hit ABC show just days before Season 8 was set to begin.

Singer Jewel, 34, has fractured tibias in both legs. O'Dell, co-host of Access Hollywood, has two knee cartilage tears. Their injuries are the latest in a series to hit celeb and pro competitors in recent seasons.

"I originally thought it was tendinitis or ligament strains," Jewel said before a concert appearance Thursday night in Highland, Calif. — which she would do sitting down. "It was painful enough for a doctor to put me on cortisone. When I went in for an MRI, it turned out to be something else. I had no idea something like this was possible."

Jewel's stress fractures are just below her knees, which had been swelling from a practice regimen of up to eight hours a day. They'll heal in six to nine weeks, says Jewel, who is using crutches to get around.

"Hopefully I'll get to sing on the show and come back and (compete) again," Jewel says.