Shania Twain is getting real about aging. The country music queen opened up about her experience with menopause, and shared a seemingly unpopular opinion.
Shania Twain on Menopause
The “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” artist revealed that she has struggled with self-image for years. During a recent interview with The Sunday Times, Twain explained that there was a period in 2019 when it was difficult for her to see her own reflection.
“I stopped looking at myself in the mirror. I hated my body,” she told the outlet. “I’m, like, ‘Oh, I cannot stand this changing body.’ But that was so unhealthy. Who cannot look at themselves in the mirror?”
The former “American Idol” mentor and guest judge, 60, explained that with age, the changes her body was experiencing were difficult to manage.
“So all of a sudden I’m bloating, and I’m definitely not in control. I can’t just lose five pounds,” she said, adding that her go-to routines were no longer working. “I was doing very unhealthy things. And I was working my body more than I was feeding it to keep up with the strain.”
The Canadian beauty went on to say that her “unhealthy” routine ultimately left her “malnourished.”
“Menopause has been very good for me because I’ve learned that some things you cannot control,” she told the outlet. “Now I’m like, bring on the mirrors, I’m going to look at myself all day long!”
Shania Twain on Body Image
The Grammy Award winner opened up about the challenges of maintaining a positive body image in the country music industry.
“I thought I was just expressing my femininity. You know, I don’t want to be judged for the shape of my
body. That made me more determined, to be honest, because I came to that…acceptance of having a very hourglass figure — I came to accepting that very late,” Twain told SiriusXM’s Lori Majewski in March 2020. “I was a tomboy all of my youth. I was very sporty I didn’t embrace my changing body. I wanted to stay boyish. I didn’t want to have curves.”
She added, “Then of course being a young girl in an adult male industry, I felt very vulnerable. The tension was uncomfortable. I was not treated equally I was treated like a vulnerable girl and I felt it. So I pushed back on that. So I came to embracing my femininity late and then once I did, I’m like this is who I am. I’m not afraid of this.”
While she admitted that she does not regret her experiences, Twain added, “I missed out on appreciating my own body.”
Twain, who grew up in Ontario, Canada, got her start in country music after catching the attention of record label executives in the early 1990s. Born, Eilleen Twain, she changed her name after signing with Mercury Nashville Records. It wasn’t until her second studio album, “The Woman in Me,” that Shania would find superstar success, with songs like “Any Man of Mine,” and “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?”
She has since released four more studio albums, with her latest, “Little Miss Twain,” due out in July.
