Twain grew up in Timmins, Canada, and experienced a childhood that was anything but glamorous.
In fact, it was often riddled with anxiety and fear.
The superstar grew up in a poor family
Shania Twaindidn’t grow up a rich kid.
In fact, she had less than most.
Her family was poor, and Twain’s only refuge from a very young age was music.
When asked what from, she answered candidly, “Everything.
When you’re hungry you might’t do anything about it but distract yourself from the hunger.
And it really works.
A lot of kids play with dolls, and I played with words and sounds.”
She was too proud to ask any of them for food, however.
Can I have that apple that you’re not going to eat?'
I didn’t have the courage to do that," she said.
Being hungry all the time made school challenging for young Twain.
“It’s very hard to concentrate when you’re stomach’s rumbling,” she said.
His outbursts are woven into Twain’s worst childhood memories.
The worst part was that violence and mental illness seemed to run in her family.
“A third of my relatives were suicide deaths at young ages that’s not an exaggeration.
A number of them died prematurely just from neglect and alcohol abuse,” Twain told The Guardian.
My mom was quite violent, too.
And I would wake up and confirm everybody was breathing."
She told The Guardian that he abused her “physically and psychologically.”
When asked whether the abuse was ever sexual, she hesitated before answering, “Oh yes, sexually …
I’m not going to go into details about it.”
Twain was a little more open about the sexual abuse during an interview withThe Times.
“I hid myself,” she told the outlet.
Make it easier to go unnoticed."
In retrospect, Twain thinks she managed to do that out of anger, not necessarily bravery.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available.
Twain eventually found herself performing in bars to make some money to pay the bills.
She was only 8 years old at the time, she told The Guardian.
“I wouldn’t have done it by myself.
I would have shied away from it.
Even though she tried to support her daughter’s dream, Twain’s mother was often distant.
“My mother was always … very isolating of herself,” Twain revealed.
“I don’t still really understand why.
She’s not alive anymore for me to ask her.
She explained that her mother didn’t live life fully and was often sad.
After surviving a volatile childhood, Shania Twain was faced with this reality.
When Twain’s sister called her with the news, she was 22 and studying computer programming.
The news brought the singer’s life to a complete standstill.
Twain explained that her mother and stepfather were the foundation on which her life was built.
Losing them both in such a tragic way shook up her whole life.
“We all agreed that they shouldn’t be separated.
But no relatives were able to take both of them in.
So the only way to keep them together was for us to stay together,” she continued.
“It was like, ‘This is all I know how to do.
I’ve got to support the kids.’
He was good, but so was she.
This, of course, wasn’t easy to deal with.
“I bit my tongue a lot.
Her husband cheated on her with her best friend
Imagine you suspect your husband is cheating.
You’re worried and tell your best friend about your concerns.
She tells you you’re crazy, that your husband would never dream of being unfaithful to you.
This is Shania Twain’s story.
Divorce wasn’t Twain’s first choice, however.
“I would be one of those people who would keep my marriage together for my child …
I tried to keep Mutt,” she admitted.
While her heart was in pieces, she also dealt with red-hot anger.
“It wasn’t just, ‘Infidelity happens.’
That was not me.
I spun around in that for quite a while.
The affair brought Twain’s unprocessed childhood trauma to the surface.
She admitted to The Guardian that she hated her friend for what she did.
Her son, Eja, was one of the only reasons she held on.
She knew she needed to be there for him.
During this dark time, Twain also finally began dealing with all the trauma she experienced.
Ironically enough, it’s what helped her heal.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available.
“I love you more than quotes can describe.
I love you more than anything in the universe.
Twain was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the letters, which kept coming.
Later, he showed up at her grandmother’s funeral.
He appeared to regret his actions, saying he never meant for Twain to feel threatened by him.
He ended up with a strict restraining order and three years of probation.
“My symptoms were quite scary because before I was diagnosed, I was on stage very dizzy.
“It’s very debilitating,” she toldLoose Women.
This was, in part, because she and her husband worked so closely together on her music.
“My fears and anxieties throughout my whole life have been slowly squeezing my voice,” she added.
“I was losing it slowly and progressively.”
Twain told ABC News in 2011 that she was eventually diagnosed with dysphonia after her divorce.
“The muscles literally constrict the voice box and prevent air from flowing properly,” she explained.
“You don’t get any volume, which is not very good for a singer.”
Dysphonia does not affect the vocal cords but, rather, limits their ability to function.
She had vocal cord paralysis, and the prognosis didn’t look good.
“I never thought I’d sing again,” she told The Guardian.
It wasn’t the right doctor.
so you can fix the nerve damage on her vocal cords, Twain had to undergo open-throat surgery.
As if that wasn’t scary enough, she also had to be awake for the procedure.
“While she didn’t deny that the procedure was scary, she had another fear that overshadowed it.
As with most operations concerning the vocal cords, Twain’s voice was altered a bit following the procedure.
“Twain added that her newfound volume was also a nice surprise.
During a 2023 interview with theMirror, Twain revealed that her Covid infection progressed to pneumonia.
She was recovering at home withher husband, Frederic Thiebaud, who was taking care of her.
He constantly monitored her vital signs in case she needed to go to the hospital.
The only problem was that hospitals were overflowing, and he couldn’t find her a bed at first.
“My husband was freaking out, to be honest,” Twain told the outlet.
“He was panicking because he was the one having to pull it all together.”
She can still recall the flight to the hospital.
“It was like science fiction, I felt like I was going to another planet or something.
It all kind of happened in slow motion,” she said.
Twain received plasma therapy upon arrival at the hospital.
She was very sick, and it took her a long time to recover.
I made it through and I’m just so grateful,” she said.
Twain even wrote a song about the experience titled, “Inhale/Exhale Air.”
You gotta just dive in.'
And I was petrified, I really was,” she admitted.
“After I had the surgery, I was petrified to make a sound.
I didn’t know what was going to come out,” she toldInStyle.
But she overcame this fear as well.
“I just had to take the leap and make a sound.
And I was so excited about what came out,” she told the outlet.
“It’s a reminder, don’t take time for granted,” she said.
“Don’t take the opportunity for granted.
It’s possible I might lose it, that it may not last.
It could happen,” she admitted.
I know that I persevered,” she said.
This is the difference.
Whatever scars I have, I’ve earned.
I’m comfortable in my own skin.”
