Shania Twain has opened up about the struggles she faced as a young child growing up in Canada.
When on CBS News on Wednesday, the 58-year-old singer/songwriter shared that she had to perform at a young age to bring money in for her family.
One of her gigs was singing at a bar when she was only eight years old.
The country singer was on the verge of tears when she recounted working in the over-21 environment.
Twain began by saying she did not like performing as a child because she had to do so in seedy bars where there was risque behavior and drunk men.
Shania Twain has opened up about the struggles she faced as a young child. When on CBS News on Wednesday, the 58-year-old singer/songwriter shared that she had to perform at a young age to bring money in for her family
One of her gigs was singing at a bar when she was only eight years old. The country singer was on the verge of tears when she recounted working in the over-21 environment
‘I was very uncomfortable with it. It might have been that I was performing in adult venues,’ she shared adding that some of those bars had cages in them.
The artist did not say so, but it was hinted there were scantily clad women in those cages.
Shania – who was on CBS News to talk up her Vegas residency – felt it was wrong.
‘The adults thought I should be a star, thoughts I should be the next Tanya Tucker,’ she added during her sit-down interview.
Twain wanted to be a veterinarian or engineering architect but she was forced to sing for money.
‘Music was a passion. It wasn’t a profession in my mind. It was something I loved to do best when I was alone,’ she said.
‘So if my parents were fighting, I would go to the backyard and – and I would start a fire and sit there with my guitar and pretend that everything went away.’
Twain held back the tears during the conversation.
‘I was very uncomfortable with it. It might have been that I was performing in adult venues,’ she shared adding that some of those bars had cages in them. Seen here in grade school
The legendary singer, 59, admitted that she used to sing for drunk men in bars when she was young to please her mother and earn ‘a few bucks’ for her family (pictured as a teenager)
She revealed back in 2018 that her stepdad Jerry had sexually abused her, and he was violent to her mother – both her parents died in a car crash when she was just 22 (pictured)
This comes after she talked about how she had a hard time when her parents died and she was left to raise her siblings.
In 1987 her mother Sharon Morrison and step-father Jerry Twain died in a car accident, leaving Shania to take care of her younger family members.
She told The Sun newspaper: ‘It was a very touch and go period in my life. I had frostbite many times just by not having the right clothes.
‘I’d have to go down to the river and bring back coolers of water to drink and do the laundry down there by hand.
‘I chopped my own wood, piled my own wood. It was a lot of pressure,’ she added.
Twain at BST Hyde Park at Hyde Park on July 7 in London
‘I barely slept.’
And, Shania has talked about the huge changes music stardom brought to her life.
She said: ‘I went from sleeping in cars to travelling first class. But it is really only now where I am enjoying the full lifestyle.’
She told The Sun newspaper: ‘It was a very touch and go period in my life. ‘I had frostbite many times just by not having the right clothes.’ Seen in 1999
‘I’d have to go down to the river and bring back coolers of water to drink and do the laundry down there by hand. I chopped my own wood, piled my own wood. It was a lot of pressure,’ she added. Seen in 1995
In May she said she has ‘a lot of’ emotional and physical scars,’ from her childhood.
The Man! I Feel Like A Woman! hitmaker has been through a lot in her almost six decades on the planet.
Speaking to Elizabeth Day on the How To Fail podcast, the hitmaker said: ‘I have a lot of scars.
‘I have a lot of scars from cooking. I have a lot of scars from working in the bush with sharp tools. I have a lot of emotional scars….
‘I’ve been through a challenging childhood and then my open throat surgery. Over time, I have realized that all of those experiences have really made me who I am today and I wear them well.’
The Man! I Feel Like A Woman! hitmaker has been through a lot in her almost six decades on the planet. Speaking to Elizabeth Day on the How to Fail podcast, she said: ‘I have a lot of scars’
She said in the past she grew up poor in Canada as her parents earned little money.
There was often not enough food in the kitchen.
And the crooner added that her mother and stepfather’s marriage was stormy at times, and from a young age she witnessed violence between them.
And when life gets tough, she channels her pain into words.
She shared: ‘I’ll document my feelings, I’ll put things down, they’re very raw, they’re very real, they’re very in the moment, and I live them. I like to live through my suffering.’
Some of the notes will turn into lyrics, but she likes to change them to be more upbeat.
She explained: ‘They’re now reflections of what I’ve been through.
‘But they are on the other side. They are the healed experience with a scar.’
The You’re Still the One hitmaker admits she can be comfortable in her own skin one day and not the next.
‘Over time, I have realized that all of those experiences have really made me who I am today and I wear them well,’ she added; seen June 30
She said: ‘I’ve been someone that has been coming into my comfort my whole life. I think it’s just a process. I live it every day.’
Shania also admitted she used to be too timid to show off her body in revealing outfits for years.
She insisted: ‘Now, I’m perfectly fine.
‘But it’s been a process for me. The ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman!’ video was the very first time I’d ever performed with legs at all.’
