Shania Twain Details Getting ‘Smacked Around’ by Parents in ‘Very Volatile’ Upbringing

Warning: The following post reports on allegations of domestic violence and child sexual abuse.

Shania Twain detailed getting “smacked around” by her parents during her “very volatile” upbringing during a recent interview.

On the Thursday, July 30 episode of NPR’s Wild Card With Rachel Martin, the country singer — who rose to superstardom in the late ’90s and early 2000s with hits like “You’re Still the One,” “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” and “Man! I Fell Like a Woman!” — opened up about her difficult childhood.

The Queen of Country Pop (born Eilleen Edwards) was raised by her mother, Sharon, and her stepfather, Jerry Twain, alongside her sisters, Jill and Carrie Ann, in Ontario, Canada.

“My parents had a very volatile relationship,” Twain, 60, admitted. “They loved each other. They went through so many ups and downs together, but they fought a lot. And they got violent, often.”

When asked if they got violent with her, Twain confirmed, “Yeah, with me too. If I was standing at the wrong place at the wrong time, definitely. I mean, both my parents were pretty harsh physically. And yeah, we definitely got smacked around a lot — and kicked around sometimes, literally kicked around. But they hurt each other the most.”

Twain continued, “It was very violent. So my mom, you know, she would lose clumps of hair, she was bruised often in the face and … Yeah, it was pretty bad sometimes. I mean, our house would shake. Those walls would shake. It’s very traumatic. It gets loud and scary, and it’s  like a really bad thunderstorm.”

Additionally, the “From This Moment On” singer recalled her mom trying to leave her stepdad on several occasions.

“She did leave — we did leave — but, you know, he’d always find us, or she’d always give in and go back,” Twain explained. “It was a cycle.”

When Twain was 22, both Sharon and Jerry died in a car accident.

The “Any Man of Mine” songstress also detailed her abusive upbringing in her 2011 memoir From This Moment On. During a 2018 interview with The Guardian, Twain claimed that Jerry started sexually abusing her when she was just 10.

“I feel the sexual abuse goes hand in hand with the physical and psychological abuse when it’s somebody, you know,” she shared. “I learned to block it out.”

Despite her abusive upbringing, Twain has won five Grammy Awards, five Academy of Country Music Awards, and has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and both the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Canada’s Walk of Fame, among many other accolades.

Twain is the mother of one son, Eja D’Angelo Lange, whom she shares with her ex-husband, music producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange. She is also a stepmom to her current husband Frédéric Thiébaud’s daughter, Johanna.

If you or someone you know is the victim of domestic abuse, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233.

If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network‘s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or a loved one is in immediate danger, call 911.