Jason Derulo Says He Survived Extreme Poverty Before Fame

Pop star Jason Derulo recently stopped by Dax Shephard's Armchair Expert podcast and shared the story of his "very humble" upbringing.

Though he never thought of himself as poor growing up, Derulo believed his parents "did a very good job of giving us a good enough life where we didn't know that we were broke, but we actually were."

Derulo grew up in Florida and was the youngest of three children, and shared a single bedroom with his two siblings. Both of his parents were Haitian immigrants. They all did what they could to avoid going to bed hungry.

"We had some nights where, my brother and I — we created this thing — we'd call it sleep water," he explained. "And all it was, was water and sugar. And when we were really, really hungry, we couldn't fall asleep, we would have this water and sugar so that it could ease our stomach and we could fall asleep."

Derulo's parents would "fight all the time about money," and early on, he began planning how to solve their financial woes.

"In the back of my mind, I’d be like. 'I'm gonna fix this.' I thought that I would be the savior of the problems that they had."

The 33-year-old rose to fame in 2009 with his No. 1 hit single "Whatcha Say." But, he said, "even with the money, there were still money problems."

While he fought to get where he is, he acknowledges the sacrifices his parents made in moving to the U.S. and more.

"They just really, really just started from the bottom. Where I think I started from the bottom, it was a totally different bottom," said Derulo. "Bottoms are all relative. You know, we all think we start from some sad story — there's always a sadder story out there. But this one has a happy ending, and the whole family was able to come over, and this really, really is the land of opportunity, and I love this country for that."

Today, Derulo is estimated to be worth $16 million, Fox News reports. But he's always known what's truly important.

"I've had so many things in my life. Things do not make you happy," he shared. "What makes you happy is being able to do the things that you love. What money is though, is freedom…. But it's not happiness. Happiness really lies in what your passions are, and where your love lies."