Shania Twain’s early life was not always filled with safety.
Before she rose to fame as a country music icon, the 60-year-old singer of Man! I Feel Like a Woman! recalls her upbringing in Timmins, Ontario, describing it as a “very violent” environment shaped by the tumultuous relationship between her mother and stepfather.
“They had a love for each other, experiencing many highs and lows, but their frequent fights often turned violent,” Twain disclosed during a recent episode of NPR’s Wild Card with Rachel Martin.
When asked if she was ever caught in the violence, the five-time Grammy Award winner responded, “Yes, that happened to me as well.”
“If I happened to be in the wrong spot at the wrong moment, it could definitely happen.”
Twain, born Eilleen Edwards, noted that both her parents were “quite physically harsh,” and she along with her sisters, Jill and Carrie Ann, “definitely faced a lot of physical discipline.”
“We were even kicked around, sometimes literally.”
Despite this, Twain emphasized that it was her parents, Sharon and Jerry Twain, who inflicted the most harm on each other.
“My mom would lose chunks of hair, she often had bruises on her face… it could get really bad. The walls of our home would shake,” Twain reflected, describing it as “very traumatic.”
“It was loud and frightening, similar to a severe thunderstorm.”
Shania’s mother, Sharon Edwards, divorced her biological father, Clarence Edwards, when Shania was just two years old. She subsequently married Jerry Twain, who adopted Shania and her siblings.
Twain shared that they lived in poverty, often making do with limited food and eating “stale bread.” The financial struggles of her mother and stepfather frequently led to conflicts between them.
“They would argue about… ‘We can’t pay the bills. We’re about to run out of heat, and now whose fault is that?'” Twain recounted.
Twain mentioned that her mother attempted to leave her stepfather several times, especially when the violence escalated and the “neighbors would call the police.” However, they never fully managed to separate.
“My mother did try to leave often. We did leave — but he would always find us, or she would give in and return,” Twain explained. “It was a never-ending cycle.”
The pair remained together until they tragically died in a car accident in 1987 when Twain was 22 years old.
This is not the first occasion Twain has discussed her difficult childhood in public.
The singer of You’re Still the One previously revealed details of her upbringing in her 2011 memoir From This Moment On, where she described the years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse she endured at the hands of her stepfather, along with witnessing his repeated assaults on her mother.