“You are the queen of you!”
By Deborah Evans Price, Author at Woman’s World (womansworld.com)
As the best-selling female artist in country music history, Shania Twain is well-known for songs that make just about anyone want to get up and dance. But lighting up every stage she walks onto doesn’t mean she hasn’t had her share of darkness—from the shattering loss of her parents to a bitter divorce and a battle with Lyme disease.
Do YOU remember when?
Shania performed at the 41st annual Grammys in 1999 – Search (bing.com)
Few women have experienced more exhilarating highs and debilitating lows than
Shania Twain, 57, but the country icon has survived…and thrived. “I live each day with the intention of making the most of it,” she divulges to Woman’s World. “I’m not always happy every day, but when I’m challenged with negativity, it makes me even more determined.” That determination has served Shania through a high-profile divorce, chronic Lyme disease and the loss of her parents: a journey chronicled in the Netflix documentary Not Just a Girl. “That was the most heart-braking moment,” she says of the car accident that took her parents’ lives when she was just 22 years old, leaving her to care for her siblings.
When you grow old with your parents, there’s time to come to terms and talk.
There’s peace that comes with that ….I never got that peace with them.
Still Shania persevered finding joy in music.
“I wanted to write music that made me dance and laugh,” she says, a passion carried through in her new album. Queen of Me. Shania is also passionate about being a mom to her 21 year old son. Eja, a wife to Frédéric Thiébaud and also encouraging other women.
“I am well into menopause and everything is changing!” she laughs. “But I am accepting
it instead of fighting the tide. I’d rather spread my energy doing things that bring me and others joy. HERE, Shania secrets for loving yourself through every season, and the stress busters she uses along the way.
Here, she shares tips and tricks that keep her shining through it all:
1. Discover true peace with a daydream. That is why I wrote the song ‘Waking Up Dreaming,’ because dreaming should not be reserved for sleeping, Dreaming for me is like meditation. It’s where I go when I am having trouble coping or stressed. I just go into dreamland. I did that alot in school. I was one of those kids where it always said on my report card that she’s a daydreamer.very
2. Indulge in a little self-care. “Massage is very important — it is a treat for your
spirit and so relaxing,” Shania shares. “I love cupping too, which is where a therapist puts special cups on your skin to create suction. It creates compression on the layers of your skin and moves fluid away and lets the skin breathe. It’s great for stress reduction for sure. But any massage is great both for the body and soul.
3. Look for a little silver lining. “If it’s a rainy day and I can’t go outside
and ride my horses or be out in the garden with my flowers, I like to cook.” Shania says.
“Rainy days are perfect for making soup. I just go through the fridge, get things rolling in
a pot — it lifts my spirits. Suddenly, I am happy that it’s a rainy day, it’s like, Yay, I get to make soup today!’ That’s important in life, finding the good in the tough situations.
It makes everything better!”
4. Find Joy With Furry friends. “You have to be really connected with them to read them well. I love learning about relationships with them. They are so giving and loving,” Shania says, an animal lover who owns horses and dogs. “My dogs have a sense of humor that keeps me smiling all the time.
5. Unwind with a good girls’ night. ‘I love to get together with the women in my life.” Shania says, ‘Everyone plays their favorite songs and we cook together.
I want to go to a remote area with a handful of women I am really close to
and just have a naked weekend, just the girls. It makes you want to laugh, right?
But just be ourselves, not judge and feel good about ourselves — that’s what I love!”
6. Don’t fear the mirror. “It’s scary sometimes to look at yourself and your body in the mirror, but you’ve got to just dive into it,” Shania counsels. “I had to push myself to leave the light on when I’m in the bathroom, but we have to be able to look at every inch of our body comfortably. The more you do it, the more relaxed you’ll be in your skin.”
Shania Twain slips and falls on stage at Chicago concert | EW.com
The country star made a stop on her Queen of Me Tour in Chicago on Saturday night
(July 1), Shania Twain fell mid-performance during her concert in Tinley Park, Illinois,
while singing her track “Don’t Be Stupid”1234. She walked to the side of the stage and accidentally slipped1. She fell on her butt but kept singing, jumping back up and polishing the song2. She made a quick recovery and finished strong3
In this Q&A, the country music star bares it all about her journey to self-acceptance
By Deborah Evans Price June 15, 2023
When it comes to spreading body positivity, Shania Twain is one of the world’s biggest cheerleaders. At 57, the international country music superstar and 5-time Grammy winner — beloved for her empowering anthems like “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much” — is embracing herself, accepting her body’s changes and wants other women to feel great about themselves too.
But surprisingly, part of Shania‘s new plan of true acceptance involves a unique dream born from feeling happy in her own skin: a nude weekend away with her closest girlfriends. Let’s go girls!
Here, in a Q&A for the newest issue of Woman’s World (see her new cover on sale now!) Shania opens up about her decades-long journey to body positivity, loving herself — flaws and all — her new empowering album and tour, Queen of Me, and…just getting naked every now and then.
Woman’s World: How has your confidence changed over the years?
Shania Twain: I’m dreaming out loud here, but I want to go to a remote area
somewhere in the world and just have a nude weekend, just with the girls, the women
I am the closest to. It makes you want to laugh, right? I wouldn’t have said that before!
I just started looking at myself in the mirror naked as I grow older, and now, I’m so well into menopause, my skin is changing. Everything is changing and I’m finally feeling more comfortable in my own skin than I ever have. It’s been a journey to accept all of me.
I’ve come a long way,
Shania at the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2003.Adc/Shutterstock
What does being nude symbolize to you?
ST: I’m not in any way being an exhibitionist — but I would love to be able to share that carefree confidence with other women. It’s like, “It’s just me and here I am!” I don’t want to spend my time looking at myself in the mirror going, “Oh gosh! I never wanted to be nude with other women on the beach!” I want to be okay with being naked with other women on the beach. I don’t want to be afraid or anxious of showing all the little flaws and scars that are adding up with age. I’ve become okay with that. I think it’s important that we learn to be okay with that.
Shania Twain at the AHA’s Go Red for Women annual Red Dress Collection in 2020.
Atrick Lewis/Starpix/Shutterstock
How do you find the courage to accept and embrace your flaws?
ST: The more you see yourself naked, the more comfortable you will get with it.
You’ve just got to do it. You’ve got to just dive into that and look. It’s a fear sometimes — it was for me — just to even look at your own self in the mirror. I had to push myself to leave the lights on full when I’m in the bathroom!
What other benefits does ‘facing the mirror fear’ offer?
ST: It’s also good for our health. We have to look for any new growths on our skin,
check for signs of skin cancer and we have to be able to look at every inch of our body comfortably. The more you do that, the more you really look, the more comfortable you
are with yourself in that and the more relaxed you’ll be about being in your own skin in general.
Shania performing in 2023.Jordan Strauss/Shutterstock
How did your new album, Queen of Me, inspire self-acceptance?
ST: Creating the album really made me reflect a lot. Self-reflection, self-empowerment and sharing it with other women is important, but it’s not about comparing. It’s more about “I’m the boss
of me. I’m the queen of me. You be the queen of you and be the boss of you.” That means telling myself that it’s okay and positive to accept changes, good and bad, not fight the changes. Otherwise, I’m going to spend my life swimming upstream — it’s so exhausting not accepting yourself as you are.
You did a nude photo shoot for your new album — what was that like?
ST: I told myself, “Okay, I want to capture myself in the moment, the way I am right now, because this moment is only now — tomorrow, I’m going to be older, and the following day, I’m going to be older. My scars are going to get more stretched, whatever is going to happen is going to only go further.” So I captured it and went out of my comfort zone.
I dove into that, and I am really proud of that. It changed my whole outlook.
Shania Twain – Queen Of Me (Full Album – Feb 3rd, 2022) – YouTube
What inspired the music on Queen to Me?
ST: I wrote the album during COVID, and it was so much about personal liberation and finding the human self-empowerment and saying, “Sure, I’m locked in the house, but I can either get depressed about it or I can write happy music,” and then change my frame of mind. I wanted to share that inspiration and hopefully cheer everybody up with some colorful, happy music. So it was a mind-over-matter practice for me personally that I am now sharing with all the listeners. When they need to put themselves in a good mood or they need to cheer up, hopefully this album will do that for them.
