Shania Twain recounts abuse by her stepfather and its lifelong impact

Shania Twain has spoken in a new interview with The Times about severe abuse she says she and her mother endured from her stepfather, Jerry Twain. Twain, now 60, said that when she was 11, Jerry beat her mother Sharon unconscious and repeatedly shoved her head into a toilet in an attempt to kill her. Growing up poor in Canada with four siblings, Twain tried to stop him by smashing a chair against his back, and said he responded by punching her in the jaw.

She also said her stepfather sexually abused her and forced her to walk around the house topless. Twain said those experiences shaped her sense of self and warned her away from abusive relationships. “There were many moments when I realized I would never allow myself to be in an abusive relationship,” she said. “I had already built a shield and confidence to protect myself. I saw a mother who did not do that for herself, and I decided I would not be like her. I tried to protect her, I felt sorry for her, but the only thing I could really do was break the cycle myself.”

Twain said she began performing at age 8, singing in bars after closing time. Because minors were not allowed to perform while alcohol was being served, her mother would only let her onstage at midnight, after sales stopped by law. She described those early venues as unsafe and intimidating, saying she was “stuck in places I did not want to be,” including smoke-filled bars and stages with strippers coming off them.

In 1987, Twain received a phone call telling her that her parents had been killed in a road accident involving a logging truck on an Ontario highway. She said she first discussed the long-term effects of the abuse publicly in 2023, when she explained that her stepfather’s touch as a child left her ashamed of her body. She later posed nude for an album cover as part of an effort to reconcile with her body, saying, “It’s a statement of the self-confidence I’ve gained in recent years. I am my own boss.” Despite her difficult childhood, Twain became a major country star and one of the most successful American singers in history, with her 1997 album Come On Over selling more than 40 million copies worldwide. It remains the best-selling studio album by a woman, the best-selling country album of all time, and one of the best-selling albums ever. Twelve singles were released from it, including “From This Moment On,” “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” and “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” Twain is currently supporting Harry Styles at all 12 of his Wembley Stadium shows, and her seventh studio album, Little Miss Twain, is scheduled for release on July 24.