Shania Twain.Photo: Chris Polk/E! Entertainment/NBC via Getty Images
Shania Twainis opening up about losing her parents in a 1987 car accident.
In a new interview on theMaking Space with Hoda Kotbpodcast, the country superstar spoke to theTodayhost about the death of her mother, Sharon Twain, and stepfather, Jerry Twain, and how the loss impacted their family.
Twain, 57, recalled attending a “computer programming” school in Toronto at 22 years old, where she was working on a “backup plan” in case her singing career didn’t take off, when she learned the news of her parents' death.
“My sister had called me and told me that they died in a car accident. I just, you know, I fell apart totally, just into shock for days, and I just couldn’t let go of them,” said the Grammy winner, who’s previously spoken candidly about growing up in poverty and facing bothemotional and physical abuse at the hands of Jerry.
Shania Twain.Erika Goldring/Getty
“I lost a very important foundation. As rickety as it was, it was still a foundation,” continued Twain. “My whole life history was there, with them, and many of the associations fell along the way, away, after my parents died. It was so true that so much of my life was stemming from them being in my life — the good and the bad.”
“My younger sister was still living at home, and my two younger brothers were still, you know, 13 and 14 years old,” added Twain. “We all agreed that they shouldn’t be separated. But no relatives were able to take both of them in. So, the only way to keep them together was for us to stay together.”
Shania Twain.Nicky J Sims/Getty Images
Taking on the responsibilities of a caregiver, however, wasn’t new for Twain. “I was already very much a mother figure in our house. My mother was depressed a lot of our lives, didn’t get out of bed for days many times,” she recalled.
About five years after her parents' deaths, Twain released her debut self-titled album in 1993 — two years before she’d skyrocket to success withThe Woman in Meand its singles, including “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?” and “Any Man of Mine.”
source: people.com
