Shania Twain is a global icon now, but her story didn’t begin on a glamorous stage. It began in Timmins, Ontario, in a crowded house where money was scarce, the furnace didn’t always run, and dinner wasn’t guaranteed. Her stepfather’s reforestation job barely covered the basics, her mother battled depression, and Shania—one of five kids—learned early how to go without.

She noticed the difference at school. Lunchtime meant pretending she’d “left her sandwich in the locker,” while quietly hoping classmates wouldn’t finish theirs. Music became her escape. She’d slip into the woods with a guitar, build a tiny fire, and sing until the cold and the worry fell away.

Her mother recognized the gift and, at eight years old, started taking her to play late-night bar gigs. The workaround was simple: Shania performed after alcohol had been served so the bar was technically “legal.” By eleven, she had a permit for earlier sets; by fourteen, she finally got paid. She grabbed a steady job at McDonald’s—her “saving grace”—because it meant a paycheck and, just as crucial, reliable meals. School, shift, stage, repeat: exhaustion mixed with hope and a dream she refused to let go.

Home wasn’t just poor; it could be dangerous. Her stepfather, who legally adopted the children, was violent and controlling. She remembers throwing a chair to protect herself—“more anger than courage,” she’d later admit. The abuse turned even darker when, at ten, he began sexually abusing her. She kept the secret for years, carrying its weight alongside every other burden.

At twenty-two, tragedy struck. Her mother and stepfather were killed in a car accident, and Shania became the glue holding her younger siblings together. She took a singing job at a nearby resort because it came with a small home—a place to keep the family intact. Mornings began with chopping wood to heat the house; days were for school runs; nights belonged to the stage. Somewhere in the grind, she learned to present a polished, feminine performer to the world, even when she felt anything but.

As her siblings grew more independent, she finally turned the focus to her own career. A demo tape led to a deal with Mercury Nashville, the first real break. Then came a partnership that defined an era: working with producer Robert “Mutt” Lange. They married, co-wrote, and crafted a sound that blasted her onto radio charts and into arenas around the world.

At the height of her success, her voice faltered. It took a decade to find the culprit: Lyme disease, which damaged her vocal cords. The surgery and the silence that followed were terrifying. When she returned, her voice had a raspier edge. She embraced it and carried on.

Her personal life, once a creative anchor, came apart. She discovered that Lange was having an affair with a close friend, Marie-Anne Thiébaud. In the strangest twist of fate, she found an unexpected ally in Marie-Anne’s husband, Frédéric. Grief over the betrayal turned into friendship, and friendship became love. Shania and Frédéric married in 2011, opening a gentler chapter. She and Lange share a son, Eja D’Angelo, and she’s clear-eyed about the past: she doesn’t hold onto resentment, acknowledging both the music they made and the family they created.

From nights without heat to stadium lights, from a voice nearly lost to a life reimagined, Shania Twain has lived the extremes. The chart-topping star you see today was forged in hardship, steadied by grit, and saved—again and again—by music.