Shania Twain: All the Big Questions Asked & Answered

Country music in the 1990s produced a number of hitmakers – solo sensations such as Garth Brooks and Faith Hill, and dream teams like Brooks & Dunn and The Chicks – but none proved quite as influential as Shania Twain.

Early on in her storied career, the superstar blazed a trail, bridging the gap between country and pop, while also completely reinventing all that the genres could be, one infectious hook at a time.

Crossover hits, like ‘Any Man of Mine’, ‘You're Still the One’, ‘That Don't Impress Me Much’ and ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman’, initially put her on the map, on top of the charts and have since become lasting triumphs in her ever-evolving catalogue. These timeless earworms continue to inspire a new generation of country-pop legends and captivate listeners worldwide.

However, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Twain.

A significant hiatus and vocal complications put her music career on hold, but the icon’s time in the spotlight was far from over. She made her official return to music with 2017's Now, marking her first in 15 years.

Since then, she’s been an unstoppable force, embarking on a handful of globe-trotting tours – including her 2023 Queen of Me trek – entertaining Las Vegas audiences with a number of residencies and continuing to deliver hit after hit.

Throughout her career, many aspects of Twain’s life – both personal and professional – have been placed under a microscope. Her childhood, relationships and time spent away from fame have all been poked at, prodded and plastered across the web, but what we think we know about the Queen of Country-Pop may not be the whole truth.

To help bring a little clarity, background and context to the trailblazing hitmaker, we've compiled answers to some of the most widely asked questions about Shania Twain.

The ‘90s pop-country sensation came into this world as Eilleen Regina Edwards on August 28, 1965, making her 58 years old.

Born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, she moved at a very young age with her divorced mother and two sisters to Timmins, Ontario. There, her mother remarried an Ojibwe man named Jerry Twain who adopted Eilleen and her siblings, giving them his last name.

Tragedy struck in 1987 when both of her parents died in a car accident, so upon her arrival in Nashville, she opted for a name change that honored her adoptive father.

She kept the surname Twain and traded in her first name for “Shania,” an Ojibwe word meaning “I’m on my way.”

While Twain’s dazzling presence and powerhouse voice make her seem a colossal figure on and off the stage, the icon actually stands at an average height of 5 feet 4 inches.

She, however, is anything but average and she’ll forever be the Wilt Chamberlain of country music stars to us.

Twain has been married twice.

Her first marriage was in 1993 to renowned record producer-songwriter Robert John “Mutt” Lange. The pair separated in 2008 after the discovery of Lange’s affair with the singer’s good friend and the couple’s personal assistant, Marie-Anne Thiébaud.

Two years later, their divorce was finalized.

Twain and Frédéric Thiébaud, Marie-Anne’s ex-husband, found solace in each other after uncovering their partners’ infidelity. The two eventually married on January 1, 2011.

The hitmaker shares one son with her first husband, Mutt Lange. Eja D'Angelo Lange – pronounced "Asia" – was born on August 12, 2001, sharing a birth month with his proud mom.

Reports have suggested he takes after his musical parents, having found a passion for songwriting and production. "I’m not sure he’ll follow in my footsteps," Twain once said of her son during an appearance on Live with Kelly and Ryan. "Every once in a while, we get into the studio together and we send each other ideas."

Upon her remarriage to Frédéric Thiébaud, Twain also gained a stepdaughter, Johanna.

During her marriage to Lange, the two took up residence in Switzerland where Twain has remained a long-time resident of the Swiss municipality Corseaux.

The star also reportedly owns properties in the Bahamas and Las Vegas, Nevada, where she has had off-and-on residencies on the Las Vegas Strip over the last several years.

Around the time of her separation and eventual divorce from Lange, Twain was also losing her voice. She was suffering from dysphonia, a vocal cord paralysis, of sorts.

The disorder was a complication of Lyme disease, which she contracted while horseback riding in 2003. This led to her taking a hiatus from music, returning with a handful of singles in 2011 after undergoing two throat surgeries.

"After I had the surgery, I was petrified to make a sound,” Twain recalled in a recent interview with InStyle. “But I just had to take the leap and make a sound. And I was so excited about what came out.”

Between the tours, residencies and walloping album sales over the years, Twain has racked up a reported net worth of $400 million as of 2023.

Her music hasn’t been the only moneymaker, though.

The star has done her share of acting, appearing in a number of television shows and movies throughout her career. She even had her own docuseries, titled Why Not? With Shania Twain, for a spell in 2011.

That same year also saw her release the memoir, From This Moment On, about her journey to and through stardom.

If you asked the star herself, she’d probably say, “Wear whatever the hell you want!”, giving you full permission to don your most Twain-worthy glad rags – a hot pink Stetson, bedazzled chaps, maybe even head-to-toe leopard print à la the legend’s 'That Don’t Impress Me Much' era.

However you choose to dress, just know that when the Queen says, “Let’s go, girls,” you best be ready to go.

On her months-long Queen of Me Tour, Twain has seen support from the hottest young acts in country music and beyond.

She has been accompanied on the globetrotting trek by the likes of Lindsay Ell, Hailey Whitters, BRELAND, Kelsea Ballerini, Robyn Ottolini, Priscilla Block and Mickey Guyton.

Twain will close out the final North American leg of her expansive tour with Lily Rose, TALK and Tenille Townes along for the ride.

According to her September appearances at the O2 Arena in London, Shania arrived on stage around 8:30pm on Saturday and 8:00pm on Sunday. Seeing as the O2 has a curfew of 11:00pm, her performances likely lasted around three hours after the opening act.

So short answer? Not long enough.

For all the details regarding Twain's Queen of Me Tour, head here.

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