Shania Twain addresses 'violent' childhood in harrowing comments on her upbringing
Warning: This article contains discussion of violence and abuse which some readers may find distressing.
Shania Twain is an absolute icon, classed as one of the best-selling music artists of all time and responsible for many people’s karaoke go-to songs.
And the 60-year-old started off young, singing in bars at the age of eight to help pay her family’s bills having admitted that she ‘hated’ doing it but her love of music helped her ‘survive’.
That theme of survival is something that applied to her home life too, as she has addressed her ‘violent’ childhood in a new interview.
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The Canadian star grew up in Ontario and her parents divorced when she was two. She lived with her mum, Sharon, who struggled with depression.
Her stepdad, Jerry, was an Ojibwa Native American, and was discriminated against, an alcoholic, violent and also described as mentally ill.
In her memoir, she described a time when he beat her mum unconscious and then repeatedly plunged her head in the toilet.
Aged 11, Twain grabbed a chair and smashed it across his back, leading to him punching her in the jaw.
On yesterday’s (30 July) episode of NPR’s Wild Card with Rachel Martin, she said: “They loved each other. They went through so many ups and downs together, but they fought a lot, and they got violent often.”
Twain explained this violence extended to herself if she ‘was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time’.
“We definitely got smacked around a lot, and kicked around sometimes, literally kicked around,” she added of herself and her sisters.
But she said her parents ‘hurt each other the most’.
“I mean, our house would shake. Those walls would shake,” the country singer said. “It’s very traumatic. It gets loud and scary, like a really bad thunderstorm.”
Sharon repeatedly tried to leave Jerry ‘but he’d always find us, or she’d always give in and go back’.
At one point, Twain convinced her mum to take them away to a homeless shelter, however they returned once again.
In an interview with The Guardian back in 2018, the star said Jerry ‘physically and psychologically’.
When asked if this extended to sexual abuse, Twain said: “Oh yes, sexually.
“Uh huh, uh huh. I’m not going to go into details about it. I don’t mind saying it, because I do think it’s important that people understand you can survive these things.”
Twain said she was roughly 10 when the abuse started and she ‘learned to block it out’ and didn’t go ‘to Children’s Aid’ because she couldn’t bear the idea of being separated.
Sharon and Jerry remained together until they both died in a car accident in 1987.
Writing music and becoming a star isn’t totally what her aim was either, as she wanted to ‘escape’.
“Everything. Violent home. Tensions. Nothing to eat. When you’re hungy you can’t do anything about it but distract yourself from the hunger,” Twain explained.
“And it really works. It’s therapeutic. A lot of kids play with dolls and I played with words and sounds.”
Topics: Music, Celebrity News
Jess Battison