Shania Twain Opens Up About Abusive Stepfather: ‘You Didn’t Want to Be a Girl in My House’
Country music superstar Shania Twain had a rocky road to international stardom. Twain grew up in poverty in rural Canada and often witnessed her stepfather Jerry Twain physically and verbally abuse her mother. Sometimes, her stepfather would direct his abuse at her directly.
Shania Twain’s stepfather was in her life from an early age
Shania Twain’s biological father left her and her mother when she was two years old. Her mother Sharon soon married Jerry Twain, who adopted Twain at age four.
Shania reflected on when Jerry entered her life in her 2011 memoir From This Moment On.
“Jerry adamantly banned the words stepfather, stepbrother, and half sister from our household. He insisted that the Twain Gang of five children was united,” she recounted. “It mattered to me that once my [step]dad took me on as his own daughter, I was treated like his daughter.” Shania herself referred to Twain as her father and not her stepfather.
At times, however, Jerry resorted to physical discipline for Shania and her sisters. He also verbally humiliated Twain in front of her siblings while they tried to sleep.
“Starting when I was sixteen or so, on more than one occasion, he would seem to just suddenly appear in our bedroom at night and stand silently by the head of my top bunk. Then he’d whisper in my ear disturbing things like ‘You’re a b****, you’re nothing.’ ‘You s***,'” she recounted. “I acted like I was fast asleep, and there probably were times when I was initially, until I was awakened by his whisper of dark, disturbing insults. Not knowing what to do or how to respond, I just pretended to hear nothing.”
“Some nights, I’d get a double dose of his abuse,” she continued. “After he’d hissed in my ear, he’d linger against the door before leaving and start up again. ‘You filthy s***.’ ‘You disgust me.’ All in the same hushed voice. Then he’d walk out of the room and disappear into the dark.”
“It was only a few years ago that [sister] Carrie and I were reflecting on our childhoods, and the subject came up,” the “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” singer added. “I personally coped by playing possum and had no idea that my sister was aware of these nocturnal visits until now.”
Shania Twain had to live with her abusive stepfather
Shania opened up about the abuse she faced from her stepfather in her childhood in a December 2022 interview with The Sunday Times. She explained how she would try to change her appearance to avoid any abuse.
“I hid myself and I would flatten my boobs,” she said. “I would wear bras that were too small for me, and I’d wear two, play it down until there was nothing girl about me. Make it easier to go unnoticed. Because, oh my gosh, it was terrible — you didn’t want to be a girl in my house.”
“Then you go into society and you’re a girl and you’re getting the normal other unpleasant stuff too, and that reinforces it,” she continued. “So then you think, ‘Oh, I guess it’s just s***ty to be a girl. Oh, it’s so s***ty to have boobs.’ I was ashamed of being a girl.”
Her outlook changed when she got into the music industry
Shania explained that how she viewed herself and her body changed once she entered the music industry and had to stand up for herself.
“All of a sudden it was like, well, what’s your problem? You know, you’re a woman and you have this beautiful body? What was so natural for other people was so scary for me. I felt exploited, but I didn’t have a choice now. I had to play the glamorous singer, had to wear my femininity more openly or more freely. And work out how I’m not gonna get groped, or raped by someone’s eyes, you know, and feel so degraded,” she said.
“By the time I had my record contracts I was the kind of woman that … when I walked in the room, it’s like, don’t even get any closer,” she went on. “It was clear in my body language. And I think maybe what young girls can learn too is to exude that confidence.”
Her new album ‘Queen of Me’ is a reclamation of herself
Today, Shania Twain is more confident in herself and her body than ever. In the lead-up to the release of her aptly-titled sixth studio album Queen of Me, due for release in February 2023, she released the single “Waking Up Dreaming,” featuring a topless Twain on the cover art.
She told The Sun that going topless was intentional as she finds new love for her body at 57 years old.
“I styled that photograph myself,” she said. “It was all about taking off the bra, taking off the shirt, tying the shirt around my waist. This is a statement of being comfortable in my own skin and just being really myself.”
How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
