Shania Twain put herself in “the line of fire” in an attempt to save her family from her abusive stepfather.
The 57-year-old singer was still a teenager when she helped her mother and her siblings escape from her stepfather, while Shania feared for her mother’s life at the time.
During a performance on The Louis Theroux PodcastShania explains: ‘I think around 13, while at 13 I declared that was the worst year of my life.
‘[I said] to myself, like literally out loud, “This is the worst year of my life. And I’m not going to get any worse. I’m going to make this the last horrible year of my life.”
Shania came up with a plan to help her mother and her siblings escape the “cycle of abuse.”
Strong teen: Shania Twain put herself in “the line of fire” in an attempt to save her family from her abusive stepfather. Seen here in her twenties
Teenage: .The 57-year-old singer was still a teenager when she helped her mother and her siblings escape from her stepfather, while Shania feared for her mother’s life at the time. She was only 13 at the time; here she is seen in the 1980s
However, the top singer needed her mother’s help to reach Toronto, where they were placed in an abuse shelter.
Shania recalls, “I waited for my dad to get to work. And I brought my mother coffee and a cigarette in bed. I have all the kids in the car.
“And when everyone was done, I got her out of bed. And I said, ‘Get dressed, we’re leaving,’ Twain recalls.
“She was quite confused. But I managed to convince her.
“I said, ‘Look, everybody’s already in the car. Everything’s in the car. You just have to get behind the wheel and drive. That’s all you have to do.'”
And she did. And we drove to Toronto, which was 10 hours away. And we find something related to battered women.
“So I say, ‘Mom, you’re going to have to talk, because they’re going to know I’m a kid. And they’re not going to take me seriously.’ So we went to the shelter that looked like a general homeless shelter.
“And then we were put in a battered woman’s house.”
She also said she finds songwriting therapeutic.
The musician started singing and performing as a young child, and Shania insists she hasn’t lost any of her songwriting enthusiasm.
The ‘You’re Still the One’ hitmaker told Louis T, ‘My therapy is songwriting. It’s a meditative thing for me.’
Tough times: While appearing on The Louis Theroux Podcast, Shania explained, “I think I was around 13, while at 13 I stated that was the worst year of my life. ‘[I said] to myself, like literally out loud, “This is the worst year of my life. And I’m not going to get any worse. I’m going to make this the last horrible year of my life.”‘ Seen in April
Happy These Days: Seen with husband Frederic Thiebaud at Billboard Magazine’s 2018 Country Power Players in Nashville
Shania’s latest album, Queen of Me, was her first new release in six years, and the singer explained that it’s a reflection of her “state of mind.”
The award-winning star wrote the album during lockdown and she used the record to share her “anxiety” with her fans.
She explained, “Queen of me” is my state of mind. My state of mind in writing the album, taking charge of my mood, my state of mind choosing to stay positive in my thinking during a dark time, you know.
“The entire album was written during COVID. I shared, you know, a lot of similar worries and fear and uncertainty and fear like everybody around the world – you know, we shared it all together.”
Shania previously claimed that she is experiencing a “renaissance period”. The award-winning star confessed to having a “newfound confidence” after finding love again with Frederic Thiebaud.
Her past: Seen in a music video for one of her top hits
The hitmaker That Don’t Impress Me Much — who married Frederic in 2011 — told PEOPLE, “It’s like a renaissance period for me.
To still experience it as a relevant artist, that gives satisfaction. “I feel a renewed confidence. I have nothing more to prove and I feel freedom in that.’
In 2004, Shania was diagnosed with Lyme disease, which damaged the nerves in her vocal cords.
But after undergoing physical therapy and open-throat surgery, she has managed to successfully return to recording.
Speaking about her long-term future in the music industry, Shania said, ‘Maybe I can’t [sing] forever, but right now I’m just enjoying where I am.’