Shania Twain Reveals Shocking Childhood Trauma

has recalled her traumatic childhood after she experienced a violent upbringing with her stepfather Jerry Twain. 

The hitmaker, 60, has been candid about her difficult childhood, growing up in poverty in with four siblings, her mum Sharon and stepdad Jerry.

And when Shania was just 11-years-old Jerry beat Sharon unconscious and then repeatedly plunged her head down the toilet. 

Shania then smashed a chair across his back, and he hit back by punching her in the jaw. 

Jerry would also make Shania walk around the house topless and sexually abused her. 

Reflecting on her childhood trauma, she told The Times: 'There were a lot of moments when I realised that I definitely would never allow myself to be in a violent relationship.

'I was already establishing my own shield and my own confidence in defending myself. I was watching a mother that didn’t do that for herself and I was not going to be my mother. I tried to protect her, I was sad for her, but the only thing that I really could do was break the cycle myself.'

Shania, who is currently supporting Harry on all 12 of his Wembley shows, began her career from as young as eight, when she would sing in bars after last orders. 

Explaining how minors weren't allowed to perform while alcohol was being served, she said her mother would put her on stage for the midnight set. 

'I was stuck in places I didn’t want to be. Smoke-filled bars, strippers coming off stage. You’re very vulnerable.'

She reflected on how she didn't enjoy being a performer and being on the stage and was very aware of how much skin she showed in case the men watching didn't realise how young she was. 

After graduating from high school in 1983, tragedy struck when she received a phone call revealing her parents had been killed in a collision with a logging truck on an Ontario highway. 

Back in 2023, Shania opened up about the lasting trauma of the abuse, explaining how being fondled as a child by her stepfather made her embarrassed of her body.

She said she is trying to embrace her body which is why she posed nude for the album cover. 'I'm the boss of me,' she said.

When asked what her album title meant to her, the That Don't Impress Me Much singer said: 'It means taking responsibility, ownership, of yourself.'

She also said she went with nude photography for her album cover as a way to deal with the horrible things her stepfather put her through when she was a child.

'It's really about saying I was abused as a kid,' she said. 'My stepfather would fondle me up on the top and make me go without a shirt and I was already maturing. This cringy horrible wanting to escape being in my own skin.'

She continued: 'It's time to start loving myself in my own skin and really embracing that and not being embarrassed of it or shy of it. This is who I am.'

The star also said, 'Loving who you are. I'm my own royalty. I'm the boss of me, and I'm responsible for the decisions I make, for what I say, for what I do. It's a statement of self-confidence that I've grown into more over the last few years.'