Disclaimer: This article mentions physical and sexual abuse.Â
Beloved country singer Shania Twain recalled the abuse she experienced from her stepfather Jerry Twain and its long-lasting effects in a recent interview with The Sunday Times.
During the Dec. 4 discussion, the 57-year-old shared that she was sexually and physically abused by Jerry growing up in Timmons, Ontario.
Shania’s late mother, Sharon Twain, would marry Jerry shortly after her first divorce. Jerry would legally adopt Shania when she was 4. The singer is the second oldest of a blended family of five. Shania described to the publication the great lengths she would take to stop her stepfather from harming her. The “From This Moment” singer explained that she often hide and find ways to “flatten” her boobs to “make it easier to go unnoticed.”
“I hid myself and I would flatten my boobs, 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.”
Further in the conversation, Shania claimed she was forced to accept her sexuality while embarking on a music career and raising her siblings after her mother and stepfather tragically passed away in a car accident in 1987.Â
“Then you go into society and you’re a girl and you’re getting the normal other unpleasant stuff too, and that reinforces it. 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.”
Shania added that initially, it was a tough transition because she always felt she would be “exploited” or “degraded” by people.
“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.”
Shania claimed she could make peace with everything after she signed her recording contract and met her first husband, Robert “Mutt” Lange. Shania met Robert in 1993, and her singing career would quickly take off. Shania and Robert, who married six months after meeting, got divorced in 2010 after the producer was accused of cheating on her with her best friend.
Shania got married to her second husband, Frédéric Thiébaud, in 2011. He just so happens to be the ex-husband of the aforementioned former best friend.
If you know someone suffering from sexual violence, contact RAINN or the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
