shaniasupersite.com

Shania Twain finds success as reality star

Boston Herald
By Amy Amatangelo
May 22, 2011

Even though she’s a country music superstar, Shania Twain knows she’s not that different from anyone else.

“Pain and suffering do not discriminate,” Twain told the Herald in a recent telephone interview. “All the things I’ve gone through in my life, I think everyone has gone through to one degree or another.”

The 45-year-old opens up about her struggles in “Why Not? With Shania Twain” (tonight at 10 on OWN). She talks about the violence that existed in her home as she was growing up, her parents’ sudden deaths when she was 21, the end of her 14-year marriage to music producer Robert “Mutt” Lange and her current fear of performing.

“I know for myself that I’m not alone,” she said. “This phobia thing that I have is a result and a manifestation of thinking that I had to keep everything to myself and I’ve got to be strong and I’ve got to hide everything because it’s embarrassing and humiliating. I know there are a lot of people who feel the same way out there, to their extreme detriment. They’re not reaching out for all the same reasons I didn’t. I hope to say: ‘In finding my voice, maybe I can be your voice.’ ”

The Ontario native received a lot of unwanted press attention when Lange’s affair with Twain’s friend Marie-Anne Thiebaud became public. “The most difficult thing to talk about would have been the betrayal and the divorce and stuff,” she said. “But to be honest, since that had already been exploited and I had already gone through the humiliation of that publicly without even being involved at all, it was almost like that was the part that I looked forward to (working through).”

Twain's new husband, Frederic Thiebaud (the ex-husband of Marie-Anne), and sister Carrie Ann join her on the series. Earlier this month, she also released her autobiography, “From This Moment On.”

“I’ve never been one to care to set the record straight,” she said. “The purpose of documenting my life on pages was it was a documentation of truth for my son. An account of my life where, should I die prematurely in his life, he would have that and not be left with just confusion because there were so many different variations of my story.”

Twain’s series debuted to big ratings for Oprah Winfrey’s fledging cable network. “I’m really happy it’s going to be a productive exercise of reaching people,” she said. “The more people that I reach, the more I achieve what I set out to do.”

Would she consider filming more seasons? “I’ve actually had a fantastic experience,” she said. “But have I enjoyed the experience of television or enjoyed the experience of evolving? So far I’m happy with the response, but I have to sit down and decide what I’m going to do next."