Shania Twain on her husband cheating “the most painful truth of my life”

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Some publisher made the decision to release Shania Twain’s memoir yesterday, the same day as Jesse James’ memoir. I realize that they don’t have the same target audience, but I hate that publicity for Shania’s memoir could be overshadowed by Jesse’s drama. (I got Jesse James’ memoir on iBooks and we have a story coming up with quotes from it in just a moment.)

Parade has some advance quotes from Shania’s memoir, From This Moment On. She discusses how she dealt with the shock and pain when she found out her husband of 12 years, Mutt Lange, was cheating on her with a good friend of the family. Shania ended up hooking up with her husband’s mistresses’ estranged husband (it makes sense if you think of it like a partner swap) and it was a trade up for the both of them. She just remarried in January and seems blissfully happy but still wounded and affected by what she went through. She’s also back in the spotlight now after a long career hiatus. In these excerpts she’s almost poetic when she describes going through that ordeal and falling in love again.

In her revealing new memoir, From This Moment On, the 45-year-old star takes readers through the events that have made her who she is. In the excerpts below, Twain opens up about the impact of her mother and stepfather’s abusive marriage and the devastation of her husband, rock producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange’s affair.

On the devastating discovery, in March 2008, that her husband of 14 years was having an affair with her friend and confidante, Marie-Anne.
Twain describes it as “the most shocking and painful truth of my life since the death of my parents twenty years earlier….For the first week after finding out about the affair, I was ready to die–to go to bed forever and never wake up. Or to hurt someone. I was ready to do something desperate, but in reality, there was nothing to do but to suffer through it. Fortunately, when you’re a mom, the responsibility of caring for your child can keep you going.

“Denial can have multiple layers, and rationalizing is common when you’re trying to absorb something you just don’t want to believe. I thought: Okay, so maybe they made a mistake. My husband and my friend will come to their senses and realize that. I was ready to forgive, and forget, make things right , move on, and get on with our lives. Not like nothing had happened, but like something had happened that I thought was fixable. But his was not to be.

“Despite everything, I still loved my husband. And I still loved my friend. I put myself in their shoes with the understanding that accidents happen, we’re all human, and we all make mistakes….Eventually, I came to the point of accepting the end of my marriage.”

How she came to fall in love with Frederic Thiebaud, the ex-husband of the friend who betrayed her.
“I describe what happened to Fred and me this way: we were two people who had been jettisoned from our lives as if we’d been shoved off the edge of a high cliff. Thankfully, we managed to grab onto each other on the way down in midair, and break each other’s fall.

“I spent months shutting myself off from any thoughts of a relationship, but Fred loved me and was brave enough to come out and say it, even though I had made it clear that the thought of ever being in love again scared me out of my wits….It’s true I swore I would never allow myself to love again, but Fred is impossible not to love.

“Three years after our hearts were broken, together, I feel more love now than any other emotion I’ve felt since that time. I consider myself the luckiest woman on the planet that I have Fred to share the rest of my life with.”

Twain also describes the intense domestic violence and spousal abuse she witnessed as a child. In the book, she recalls one particular fight between her stepfather and mother.
“My mother was a featherweight and so easy to push around. Jerry had her on the bathroom floor by the toilet, and, grabbing her hair, he slammed her head against the side of the basin, knocking her out cold. I could see Jerry repeatedly plunge my mother’s head into the toilet bowl, then pull it out again. I remember wondering, ‘Why is he trying to drown her when she’s already dead?’ I wanted to scream, ‘Stop, you already killed her!’ I wanted to stop him, but I was too afraid…The enormity of that helplessness transferred to me, and I felt as limp as she was.”

Despite the violence, Twain says she felt “sorry” for her parents, and while she hated the violence, she “didn’t hate them.”
“The guilt and shame they clearly felt after each incident, I sensed, weighed a ton; knowing us kids were watching must have been awful. I felt sorry for their shame and didn’t have the heart to hold it against them even at that very young age. Each time, I just wanted it to be over, behind us and forgotten.”

Twain rose to fame in the early 1990s with her debut album. She describes the difficulty in dealing with her newfound celebrity, loss of privacy, and pressure to live up to the public’s expectations.
“I had moments of sheer desperation over these years, and although I never contemplated suicide, I was looking for an escape. I wished for an illness that might force me in the hospital so I could rest, or for the album suddenly to lose steam to it would be time to get off the road and pass my hours with my guitar just writing in peace with a few friends around a fire.”

[From Parade]

Shania was on Oprah yesterday and I read through the recap on Oprah’s site. You can also read highlights of her interview on People and Popeater. It sounds like she still sort-of blames the other woman, but that’s understandable because her then-husband’s mistress was her best friend and assistant. She told Oprah that when she asked the other woman if her husband was acting strange, she was all “I think he’s fine.” She hasn’t seen the mistress since, but she wrote her a letter asking her to leave her family alone that she shares in her book. Shania explained that we all have very low moments in our lives, and that was hers.

Shania strikes me as such a feeling person and someone who is fragile but ready to be back in the public eye. I admire her
and think she handled this all so well. To Oprah, Shania revealed that she suffers from a medical condition called dysphonia that squeezes her vocal chords, but says she hopes that she’ll be able to sing again soon. She has so many fans that feel the same.

Shania is shown on 3/27/11 at the Juno awards. Credit: WENN

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66 Responses to “Shania Twain on her husband cheating “the most painful truth of my life””

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  1. brin says:

    I admire her, too. She handled this unbelievable situation with grace and I’m glad she is able to come out of it stronger and happier. Hope she can sing again soon!

  2. Elizabeth says:

    Having your husband cheat would be devastating. But having your best friend lie to you about it over and over to cover her own ass would have put me over the edge. I think the ex-husband is dirt but I think the ex-BFF is worse for helping him betray his wife and for betraying her BFF.

  3. Laurabb says:

    Love her! Really love her hair!

  4. machiavelli says:

    I am getting the Jennifer Anniston vibe. What is the need for Oprah’s confessional couch? Maybe I just need caffeine.

  5. Hautie says:

    I watched Shania, yesterday on Oprah.

    And she is not remotely over the betrayal. At all. And I don’t blame her.

    When you find out your best friend, whom you have been sharing your doubts about your marriage with… is the jump-off your husband is shagging. I wouldn’t be getting over it either.

    And I hope Karma comes and bites both Mutt and the shag buddy on the ass. Twice.

  6. jemshoes says:

    I have nothing but admiration for Shania. I cannot imagine being betrayed like that – it would slay me. She’s been strong, reticent and gracious and that’s what makes her admirable.

  7. DGO says:

    Two things about this bug me: If Jerry Twain abused her (and by the way, she claims he sexually abused her), why did she take his name and build a career on it? Secondly, why does she pretend she is an orphan? She has a bio father who supported her financially while she was in Toronto, trying to make it as a rock singer. As soon as she made it, she dumped her bio father (Clarence Edwards) and rewrote history.

  8. Hakura says:

    I agree. I’m impressed with how she’s handled the domestic violence of her past without hating her stepfather. Forgiveness is the hardest thing.

    She handled this whole thing like a lady, while healing. I definitely wouldn’t be able to help animosity at the other woman, but fully believe she knows they’re equally to blame.

    I can’t imagine… Betrayed by your husband, but also your friend at the same time. That she can come away with any sort of positive reflection is impressive by itself.

  9. sapphire says:

    I also remember reading that her “poverty stricken” days included her sibs-that she was more interested in becoming a singer than supporting them.

  10. really says:

    cheating on her with a good friend of the family: that is what “so called good friends” do, they leach off your life if you allow them. Moving on!

  11. Embee says:

    What a lady.

  12. L says:

    @DGO Thank you-I thought the same thing. This is the same woman who a few years ago was on VH1 talking about how awesome her mother and step-father were. How much she loved them and they loved each other. How she took his name for her professional career because of how much she adored him. How insulted she was that anyone would think of him as ‘not her father’ Hell-she wrote a freaking SONG for them (ironically enough-From this Moment on)

    I totally feel like she’s rewriting history and throwing her step father under the bus. And you’re right-her biological father is very much alive.

    And I’m sorry-but a affair is not a ‘accident’ Maybe, MAYBE, falling in love is-but secrets and a affair? Totally not something you can do on accident.

  13. ladybert62 says:

    She is quite beautiful and the quotes from her book and interview show her to be a compassionate and understanding person who has gained insight into herself and others through some extremely painful events.

    I am glad she is happy again and that she has regained the confidence to make a new life professionally and personally.

  14. badrockandroll says:

    I am not in the Shania fan club by any stretch. Her song lyrics are silly rhymes with the same lack of depth as her singing voice. These excerpts from her autobiography strike me as similarly superficial.

    She’s been caught manufacturing parts of her life story in the past, and her girl next door looks are the result of some rather good procedures. I think that the real truth is that however much an a$$hole Mutt may be, he manufactured her career as well. She hasn’t had an album in years, and for years she’s been saying that she’s writing, or it’s in production. Now she’s saying that she has dysphonia. I think that the truth is that however much a nice guy Fred may be (and I’ll grant you that he’s also rich and quite good looking), he isn’t the producer Mutt is. Post Mutt, Shania’s career will be what it was pre-Mutt: glorified lounge singer.

  15. Marjalane says:

    Sorry, I have to co-sign badrockandroll. Matt Lange may be the douchiest of the douche’s, but he created her, and she’s been unable to do anything musical since. It’s a bit of an eyeroll for her to now have this vocal issue after all her talk of new recordings. Also- full disclosure- I have a long standing contempt of stars that go on Oprah and spill their guts. I think it’s incredibly fake. There was a huge blind a while back that there was a foreign born singer who didn’t actually do her own singing, but was a huge star. I saw Shania twice in concert and they were great shows, but she had about eight female back up singers and while I think she was singing, I know there were tapes rolling with her voice on it- it was pretty obvious.

  16. Janna says:

    Being betrayed is gutwrenching, especially when they make it clear they want the other woman. But when it is your best friend, and assistant, someone in your home every day, someone you most likely confide in about your marriage, the devastion and betrayal is unimaginable and is much harder to come back from as you relive so many moments where you feel you were made a fool of by them. Remembering how she was in your home all phony, pretending to be your friend and care and probably pulling info out of you. What a nightmare. I admire how she admitted her lows, begging him back, writing her a letter asking her to leave them alone. Groveling isn’t pretty, but it happens in your lowest moments. She’s a classy woman. I have always liked her.

  17. MeriJaan says:

    I would have no problem punching her friend right in the face. BF betrayal is the lowest of low.

  18. Hakura says:

    After reading some of the comments, I’m really wondering WTF is going on with all her information…

    I mean, family history that’s already happened can’t be undone entirely (Sure, you can try to put a different ‘spin’ on it), but it’d be incredibly arrogant to think she could get away with that now, just because the public sympathizes for her going through the cheating & divorce.

    Where did the whole ‘orphan’ thing come from, if her biological father is not only alive, but has always financially supported them? I’m really confused.

  19. NoFrank says:

    I’m going to have to go with “Meh”. So much about this woman is fake, including her name (her first name is Eileen, not Shania). For the first part of her career she claimed to be part Native American (Ojibway I think) and it was a very central part of her persona. Turns out it was Jerry Twain who was Ojibway, not Shania’s bio father. When confronted about it she said that she loved Jerry Twain so much that she considered herself his daughter and thus part Ojibway. Um, I was raised by my stepfather, too, and I love him more than anything but a) he did not beat the bejeezus out of my mother, and b) the fact that he’s Irish does not make me any less Danish/German. Please.

    She’s not a very good singer; she’s a very well-marketed act. Her voice is weak and her songs were novelty songs. Without Mutt Lange I doubt that she will do a lot of charting. Plus I have a friend who worked as a roadie on one of her shows in San Francisco and apparently she is a complete raving bitch to the people who work for her; it’s in her contract riders that no one is allowed to look at her or talk to her while she’s going between the dressing room and the stage.

    It’s sad that her marriage ended the way it did, but she’s not someone I’m shedding any tears over.

  20. Toot says:

    Yeah, when I saw her on Oprah I couldn’t help thinking of her VH1 Behind The Music where she talked about how wonderful her stepfather was. It makes me question any version of “truth” she puts out there.

  21. tapioca says:

    Oh Shania, how do we know you didn’t cop off with Fred first, then Mutt found solace in the arms of the now ex-Mrs. Thiebaud afterwards? I mean, they married pretty darn quick!Yeah, I’m a little cynical…

  22. DGO says:

    @Hakura – Mutt manufactured Shania’s “hard luck” story to make her more bankable with the country music crowd. Shania always wanted to be a rock singer, but she wasn’t good enough to make it. Mutt figured country music was an easier market to break into, so he created this fake persona for Shania to slip into.

    I remember them faking her prom pictures when she was about 30 years old, and they also faked photos of her fully made up, supposedly taking care of her stepfather’s all-male construction crew. Yeah, big eye roll here. Shania never did that job. She worked in McDonald’s! LOL

    She also leaves out her mother’s infidelities with Jerry Twain, which is the real reason Shania’s parents were separated when she was 2.

  23. Chrissy says:

    The comments are very interesting. And if they are all true, Shania may be in for a huge round of fresh criticism. I’ve heard her wax poetic about her parents for years so coming out with those serious allegations of abuse is shocking.

  24. DGO says:

    I want to clarify one other thing: I’m not saying Jerry Twain didn’t abuse her. Who knows? But I know her bio father didn’t abandon her or her mother. He was there for Shania until she became rich and famous, and she conveniently dumped him because he didn’t fit her new persona.

  25. SolitaryAngel says:

    I always respected & admired Shania; I’m upset by all these stories of her lying about everything in her life.

    As far as her bio father goes, understand this: I have a bio father too–he was married (to someone ELSE) when he got my mother pregnant and then dumped her. I’ve never met the man and never will, so yes I tell people I don’t have a father too. Point being, she has reasons for putting him out of her life and we don’t know what those are.

    Yes, her “real” name is Eileen; Shania is a stage name and she has never said otherwise, to those of you snarking about it.

    I’m just going to be happy for her.

  26. TxGal says:

    Why do celebrities have to lie when it’s regarding their own background???

    I just find it strange that she married her ex-bff husband….

    Before admiring someone make sure this person is worth admiring…

  27. lucy2 says:

    That betrayal is awful, and it doesn’t sound like she’s over it. Can’t blame her, but that does not really bode well for her new marriage. Hopefully it’s for real and not just a rebound/take comfort in each other thing.

    I don’t know much about her, but it sounds like much of her life story was manufactured to sell. I know that used to happen a lot, but in this day and age, where info is so readily available? Weird.

  28. Nancy says:

    I really like her.

  29. Hakura says:

    @NoFrank“Um, I was raised by my stepfather, too, and I love him more than anything but a) he did not beat the bejeezus out of my mother, and b) the fact that he’s Irish does not make me any less Danish/German. Please.”

    Exactly. The same goes for me… I was raised by my stepfather (who was the only father I knew) & I love like my own, but a) he did not beat the bejeezuz out of my mother, and b) the fact that he’s German does not make me any less English/Jewish. You can’t just decide to change your heritage because it’s convenient or looks ‘cool’ in a bio…

    @DGO – Wow… I’m really shocked by this. I just never paid much attention (was never a fan)… How can this information she’s put out be so well known, & yet she’s not being questioned putting out contrary information now? I mean, if it was that big a part of her getting where she is today.

    There’s no way in hell the American public will be able to get over being this blatantly manipulated & lied to for all these years. I don’t see how everything wouldn’t come crashing down on her pretty little head…

  30. MorticiansDoItDeader says:

    @DGO, fabricating abuse to further one’s career would be a terribly dirty thing to do. People accused Ashley Judd of doing it as well. I understand your suspicion, particularly when you’ve heard conflicting personal accounts; but I happen to think she may have fabricated the perfect family portrait she painted (especially when her “parents” were still alive). As I’m sure you know, people who were abused sometimes continue to seek approval and/or sympathize with their abuser (ie stockholm syndrome). So I don’t find it out of the ordinary that she would reveal the truth after they died (so she wouldn’t have to face their disappointment).

    Two observations: 1)That account of her mothers abuse at the hands of her stepfather is chilling. 2) what do you expect from a man named “Mutt.”

  31. DGO says:

    @ Hakura – It was a big deal in Canada when she first came out. She was born in Windsor, Ontario, then later moved to Timmins. Folks from Timmins spoke out and did a series of newspaper articles exposing her lies. Mutt later wrote a HUGE cheque to the city for a museum and a few other things. But the bad press did go on for awhile. (Oh, and even though Mutt purportedly bought up her pre-plastic surgery pictures, which are truly awful, there are still a few floating around on the net if you search).

  32. jc126 says:

    I can’t imagine the betrayal one must feel being cheated on by husband and best friend. It must undercut everything you believe is true.
    That said – what’s with these new abuse claims against Jerry Twain?? I remember her saying how great he was in her Behind the Music episode.

  33. NoFrank says:

    Also, as for her name change, yes, she talked about it — and she said she changed her name to “Shania” because it was an Ojibway word that reflected her Ojibway heritage. Which she did not have. Later she said it was in tribute to her Ojibway stepfather but originally, she said the name change was to reflect her heritage.

    ETA @ Hakura — Mutt was an old-style producer and publicist who knew how to go about buying up or hushing up unflattering stuff. I think Shania is up against the same thing as a lot of performers who hit big pre-internet. It was a lot easier to float lies about your past before your fans could just Google the shit out of you.

  34. DGO says:

    @MorticiansDoItDeader – They have been dead nearly 25 years. She’s had all that time to tell the truth. And again, I’m not saying Jerry didn’t molest her or beat her and her mother. I don’t know about that part. But I do know she has a birth father who’s been very, very good to her, and many of her childhood tales about being poor don’t match up with what classmates remember. Her family had all the usual trappings of a middle class family.

  35. Judy says:

    GORGEOUS…and classy.

  36. badrockandroll says:

    @ MorticiansDoItDeader: her mother and stepfather were long dead when she started fabricating her Ojibwa heritage. She didn’t have to face their disappointment, she wasn’t seeking their approval. I’ve never heard any allegations of her stepfather abusing anyone until now. Because she has played fast and loose with her background in the past, I am inclined not to believe her now. Will this be more egg on Oprah’s face – she really ought to better research the people in which she invests & the authors she endorses.

    And while you are googling for old pre-surgery pics of Shania, also look for how Steve Earle (a true singer songwriter, and not at all invented by any of his spouses or producers/seducers) described her.

  37. Me says:

    One incredibly emotionally mature and intelligent woman. It kind of sucks this is marred by the fact that she is airing her dirty laundry but at the same time… Im well impressed with how she presents it and mentally processes it.

  38. NoFrank says:

    @ badrockandroll: HAHAHA! I loves me some Steve Earle.

    He said Shania Twain was the “Highest paid lap dancer in America.” I laughed for days after I read that.

  39. Magsy says:

    How cool the 2 exs got together. Pretty voice, pretty lady and strong too. Rather see her on tv than those damn Judds. I never understand too whenever abuse or molestation is disclosed there are people who doubt the validity because it happened so long ago. Like keeping it a secret for years must mean it never happened or you’re lying. I know women who have been molested and never told because they thought their mother wouldn’t believe it or they were ashamed. Don’t we really have to give them benefit of the doubt.

  40. tango says:

    I’m over Shania. The book and TV show that just emphasizes the betrayal. Get over it. Or at least be quiet about it.

    While I think it’s very devastating to be cheated on by a spouse and best friend, I think in the long run, the more damaging and painful truth is to know your mother was being physically abused and you constantly saw it. Then if it’s true she was sexually abused by her stepfather? Isn’t that worse than a cheating spouse? Especially when you live in a great house in Switzerland, with lots of money, a loving child and a new boyfriend all to comfort you afterwards?

    I don’t mean to trivialize the infidelity, but in the scheme of things, it’s not worse than some of the other events in her life so why so much emphasis on how that was the worst?

  41. icantbelievethis says:

    @tango exactly. I would think a cheating spouse ranks below childhood abuse. Especially once you’ve moved on and are happy.

  42. Bobby the K says:

    Maybe getting married isn’t the best idea if you are still dealing with the experience of betrayal.

  43. Atticus says:

    Even on Oprah yesterday, Shania spent a good deal of time going on about how wonderful her stepfather was, immediately after speaking about the toilet bowl incident. I remember that Behind the Music episode as well and she didn’t speak of any abuse then, but she did say the same positive things about her stepdad then as she did yesterday.

    As a rising star in 1998, I don’t blame her for not being forthcoming about an abusive childhood. If she had, she probably would have been scorned for using that for publicity.

  44. filthycute says:

    Really? More than her parents dying, living in poverty, and raising her siblings?

    This woman is an idiot.

  45. Amanda G says:

    I’m happy for her, but it’s really really weird that she married the guy who was her husband’s mistresses husband (say that three times fast). I just see bad things coming from this and I hope both of their intentions were good and not out of “revenge” or having that heartache in common.

    And I agree with everyone, Mutt was the brains behind Shania’s empire.

  46. Newbie says:

    I’m shocked by all the information that all of you are giving on this thread. Sounds shady. REALLY shady.

    Despite who she may or may not be, what she did or didn’t go through, or who her parents were or weren’t, no one is “deserving” of being cheated on. I hate to contradict some of you, but I think it would be just as hard to be cheated on as it would be to have someone close to you die. It’s very traumatic (not speaking from experience, but from others close to me). For all the crazy that it seems she’s done, I can’t help but feel for her in that particular sitch. Just saying.

  47. Hakura says:

    @DGO“…(Oh, and even though Mutt purportedly bought up her pre-plastic surgery pictures, which are truly awful, there are still a few floating around on the net if you search).”

    Jeez. It sounds like ‘Shania’ was a full-scale production, written, directed, & funded by Mutt Lange. Barely looks like ‘Eilleen’ contributed at all…. I decided to look around a little bit to see if I could find some ‘pre-surgery’ Shania… This is the largest pic I was able to find: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ss_7FuUYy6A/SLyzJc3gV2I/AAAAAAAAEy4/u7wZGvk3rSs/s1600-h/734787.jpg

    @NoFrank“It was a lot easier to float lies about your past before your fans could just Google the shit out of you.”

    I don’t know why, but for some reason I feel really offended by the things she chose to make up/lie about. I mean, a youth full of tragedy losing her parents, then supposedly working so hard as a kid to take care of her younger siblings… Raising them until they were old enough to take care of themselves before moving on to realize her ‘dream‘ of doing country music… Was any of that even true?

    Someone already pointed out she didn’t want to do country music, but couldn’t cut it as a rock singer. Then the lies about having Native American heritage (when it was her step father’s)…Which she probably only latched onto when she got stuck doing ‘country’ music… It looks like her face has been remodelled entirely… She’s just so all over the place, you can’t tell if the abuse is a lie made up for sympathy, or a real issue buried under tons of ‘denial’ that comes up as a defense mechanism.

    It’s all just so slimey & dishonest, gaining fans, praise, & admiration for complete BULL. Who knows if she could ever really sing.

  48. sandy says:

    i think she is brave, and what happen to her was horrible all around, the betrayal of ex-husband/ex-bff is devastating and happened more recent than what happened with her parents 25 years ago, that’s why she feels more hurt, it happened directly to her, not like watching her mother being beaten, i hope she can find peace, i for one like her, in spite of some mean spirit hateful comments, she is a survivor. as for as i know, she has not done anything hurtful to anyone else, it happened to her, that’s why most victims do not come forward, society has a history of blaming the victims.

  49. badrockandroll says:

    Let’s be clear: no one is blaming her, or saying that she deserves anything. At worst, people are doubting that these terrible things happened to her. I have had my doubts about the truthfulness of her “story” and even the authenticity of her “talent” going back for almost 20 years. This incidentally pre-dates the alleged cheating and betrayal (and yeah, I’m not sure that we have the whole picture on that sordid mess yet either). As to whether or not she is a victim of anything other than Svengali-ism, that’s not blaming the victim. It is however saying that there is something truly pathetic about a person (or an industry or a society) who needs to have a victim story in order to push success.

  50. Francesca says:

    I love her face. No botox or lifts just a good face that has lived a life. She sounded kind of shakey on Oprah yesterday; I hope she can get over the whole mess in time. Her new husband is HOT! good for her.

  51. DGO says:

    @ Hakura – That picture is actually post plastic surgery. She had a sugar Daddy yet when she was in her late teens or early 20’s, and he bought her teeth and a nose job. And in her bio that was just released the other day, they’ve got some of her pictures photoshopped! (The teeth part).

    When she was a child, she appeared on a Canadian television show. They recently replayed the clip on a Canadian talk show, and you can see the horrible, broken teeth and big nose. Funny thing is, she sounded much better then than now.

    Take a look at the 1987 picture here and check out the teeth:

    http://www.people.com/people/shania_twain

    Also, the picture of her in the white dress with the black gloves was taken when she was around 30. She claimed it was her “prom” pictures. When called out of the fact that a.) Canadian high schools (at least back then) didn’t have proms, and that she never attended school dances anyway, Shania said she bought the dress, took the pictures, but never showed. All part of the Mutt Lange PR package.

    And by the way, Google Paul Bolduc and Judy Demers if you want to see an article about Shania and cheating.

  52. Louise says:

    I wonder why the media isn’t calling Shania out on her lies? I don’t know which story is true but she spent her entire career saying what a perfect marriage her parents had and what a wonderful stepfather Jerry was. Shania has never said she had a bad childhood, just that she was poor. I’m baffled that she’s getting away with giving two completely stories. I don’t know which is worse: Shania having an abusive childhood but selling a happy story to be a star or having a good childhood and ruining the reputation of decent people.

    I do wonder what Shania’s music will be like without Mutt. I don’ think it’s a coincidence that she became a success after Mutt began writing and producing her albums.

  53. MorticiansDoItDeader says:

    @badrockandroll, I think you may have misread what I was saying. Perhaps she waited until after their deaths to reveal the abuse because she was no longer seeking the approval of her abuser (since he was dead). Just as @magsy said, just because she waited this long to reveal it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen; but to be fair, maybe I’m defending the timing of these allegations because it took me 23 years to reveal the abuse I suffered as s child. As an abuse survivor, I also understand how one can simultaneosly love/protect their abuser and hate them.

    @DGO and @badrockandroll, I understand the mistrust when she fabricated her struggles and ethnic background. I guess I would like to believe that most people would draw the line at “harmless” lies. Lying about ones heritage or socioeconomic background seems far less offensive than claiming someone beat and molested two of the women in their lives that they were supposed to love and protect.

  54. Hakura says:

    @DGO“That picture is actually post plastic surgery. She had a sugar Daddy yet when she was in her late teens or early 20’s, and he bought her teeth and a nose job….Take a look at the 1987 picture here and check out the teeth:”

    Wow. I thought she looked different enough in the one picture I linked to. (Though I can only criticize the dental makeover *to a point*. At 25, I currently have almost none of my *actual* (real, un-replaced) teeth, either >.< My mouth was hell from the get go, too.) But the rest of her face has morphed completely, surely no one would recognize her.

    Re: Paul Bolduc and Judy Demers – …. What a bitch. That list banning certain artists from my computer keeps getting longer & longer…

    @BadRockAndRoll – I’m seriously questioning everything she’s ever done & said, at this point… *IF* she’s done what DGO has implied (in her other ‘relationships’)… I’m afraid she does deserve to be cheated on. What goes around comes around… Big time.

    Originally… I wouldn’t have automatically assumed that the ‘marriage’ between Shania & this guy was out of revenge… But now I’m not so sure. =\

  55. badrockandroll says:

    MorticiansDoItDeader: I find appropriating a dead person’s culture because one’s own is not exotic enough to be marketable is not harmless. The fact that she was called out on that, and then recanted some of it, but clung to the “we were poor but happy” myth for years only to change it later on to the “wait a minute, I was abused” story doesn’t pass the sniff test.

    Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette are women country music stars who all lived violent, poor childhoods and suffered domestic abuse at one point or another, often under public scrutiny. I believe that Shania is borrowing from them and other unfortunate women in order to promote her book and her Oprah show, perhaps so that no one will notice that her music ended with her relationship with Mutt. There are too many really good female artists (Neko Case, Elizabeth Cook, Kelly Willis, Emmylou Harris to name just a few) to waste time with this mannequin.

  56. DGO says:

    What I find most deplorable about this, is the fact that Shania let everyone believe her father was dead, and when that lie couldn’t stick, she said he abandoned her and her mother even though he helped support her for years. He has maintained a dignified silence over this, but people who know the family are the ones who are talking. How can someone be so fame hungry they deny their own FATHER?

  57. UrbanRube says:

    I’m with Elizabeth. The betrayal by the best friend more than doubles the horror.

  58. skibunny says:

    I had to endure one of her concerts and I’m pretty sure she lip-synced through the whole thing. It was not good. I also think she’s full of shite!

  59. Hakura says:

    I’m honestly shocked how pissed I am about this whole thing. It’s not even like I was a fan. Sure, I liked a few of her songs over the years… But that’s it.

    I just find all these lies about her parents & family, meant to gain sympathy & admiration… so incredibly offensive.

  60. murt says:

    I don’t get all of these plastic surgery rumours about her. Of course she’s had her teeth done – they look obviously fake, and I think she’s admitted it, but other than that, I don’t think she’s done anything else. Here is a clip from 1980 when she was just 15 – it looks like the same face to me, except for the teeth:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWC0EAmx_4o

    Also, it’s not like she has a perfect nose now – it’s not that small, and there’s a big hump on the bridge that you can clearly see in profile. If she had had a nose job in the 80’s/early 90’s, it probably would have been a cookie cutter ‘ski-slope’ turned up nose, which she doesn’t have.

    As far as her heritage, she was raised on a Reserve from the time she was a baby, and had Canadian Indian status – I feel that’s the end of it. Her bio father may or may not have been in the picture later on, but she was legally adopted by her stepfather and she’s always consistently referred to him as her real father.

  61. murt says:

    Plus her face is so perfectly proportioned/shaped – even if she had a much larger nose, it would still be beautiful.

  62. Bill Hicks is God says:

    I’ve sat on this for a piece. I have to say something about this, and so…Steve Earle, calling Shania Twain “the biggest lap dancer in country music,” I love you dude, I have your music but I know your story Steve, and that’s a cheap shot. If you hadn’t OD’d, you’d be another clubby statistic, so STFU. (I know who you were affiliated with brother).

    Talk about her plastic surgery (nose and teeth); Lange told her Country was the way to go – because she could do it. Most people can’t.

    A Canadian girl broke into Nashville. That, musically, is like the Moon Landing. Mutt made her and broke her. Fuck Mutt Lange. I’m on Eileen’s side. And yes, she’s Anishnabe-kwe, not born, but accepted ceremonially. She hasn’t lied about a goddamned thing.

  63. ken says:

    i want to believe her, but i REALLY think somethings rotten here. i can see Shania being a very frigid, and kinda “so full of herself” kind of attitude..i watched her transformation throughout her career. and i can see him be the lonely one here, not her, at all!!! she’s beautiful, and i think we’ve all wondered what she saw in Mutt, rather it was right or wrong. i think she found an out, and ran with it, and ran with it with amazing speed, so she could get away from him, after he got her career running.IF he cheated, he did her such a big favor, in her eyes, and she is turning the tables against him, so she can look like the princess. i don’t think she is genuine, in the least!! too many questions in the past about her step father. if she wants to prove me wrong, then she will have to hunt me down and tell me, thats if im not cheating with her “best friend”, as well..:).. I just really feel like someone is really lying here

  64. Ariell says:

    For those of you who say her story must be true because it was on Behind The Music is NO proof at all! The people that control the music industry also control the television program Behind The Music. That show is used to validate the celebrities’ lies. Just because something is written in a newspaper, your preacher or teacher told you, or you heard something on a documentary in a library DOESN’T MAKE THE STORY TRUE. MOST celebrities lie about their upbringing drastically in order to sell records. Granted, we all have suffered financially at some points in our lives but Shania used the “indian” heritage to appear more exotic. Don’t trust any person – celebrity or not – in a power of position. Janet Reno lied about having a degree. She bullied her way into politics. Most people don’t work hard to be where they are but as Steve Earle said: “most people are lap dancers to be where they are.”

  65. Bev says:

    I personally don’t believe Shania lied about her background – ever! Her bio-dad has, indeed, been alive and he, too, apparently beat her mom to a pulp! He was far from a prize. The woman was lucky to have made it alive following her marriage to him! I agree that Jerry was abusive and no prize either. Shania obviously felt great respect for him as a huge deal was made that Jerry would adopt them all (she and her sibblings) and that the word ‘step’ would not be a part of the family, i.e step brother, step dad, etc.

    Perhaps it was her mother who made a big deal of this as Jerry was so young and she’d already been battered by the other guy (Shanas’s bio dad). So let’s cut her some slack – she was just a kid. I certainly wouldn’t have kept the name Twain myself following such horrific abuses. However, she’d been through so many nightmares, perhaps she will change her mind about Jerry in years ahead and see him clearly – as an abuser who could have killed her mother!

    Shania has done magnficently with the cards she was dealt! I hail from Timmins myself and my own parents had their own struggles. Unlike Shania, I didn’t want to go back after awhile because of so many bad memories altho’ like Shania, I also had good memories. Poverty sucks and it does cause strife, frustration, heartbreak! Not that there is any excuse for horrific abuse, but it does factor in! I think Shania has done more than well under the unbelievable odds – she is magnificant and a straight shooter. She deserves to be honoured, not denigrated!!!

    • Bev says:

      The lies come from some of the public, not Shania. Firstly, she ost definitely was not raised on a Reserve and nowhere does she say otherwise! Jerry wanted nothing to do with living on a Reserve and Shania, in fact, wished that they did! So let’s get the facts straight. There are so many distortions and then it is put on Shania as telling lies. Shania has been very upfront about her background and life as far as I am concerned. No bull as she calls a spade a spade.

      She may be in denial about Jerry and there may be some things about him she is not yet ready to face. Her confusion is genuine, I feel, and when the time is right, she will have increased clarity. She certainly is honest about her state and perceptions at any give moment – or ‘misperceptions’. That is ALL we can ask of anyone. Let’s not be hard on her because some of us have the distance and clarity to see what is still too painful for her to face. This is a natural process for all of us – she is no different from the rest of us.

      With increased support and safety, she will take her next steps as gracefully and graciously as every step she has already taken in her journey. From a Timmins gal who left years ago too!