Country-pop icon Shania Twain has opened up about the brutal abuse she endured as a child, recounting years of physical violence at the hands of both her mother and stepfather in their Ontario, Canada, home.

During an appearance on NPR’s “Wild Card with Rachel Martin” on Thursday, July 30, 2026, the singer behind “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” described a household where explosive fights between her parents frequently turned physical, with the children regularly caught in the crossfire.

When host Rachel Martin asked whether the violence extended to Twain and her siblings, the performer confirmed it directly. “Yeah, with me too,” she said, explaining that being in the wrong spot at the wrong time meant she wasn’t spared. The children were smacked and sometimes kicked by both parents, she revealed.

A Cycle of Violence and Return

The most extreme brutality occurred between her mother Sharon and stepfather Jerry, Twain said. She described injuries that included lost hair and facial bruising so severe that the violence seemed to make the entire house tremble, creating an atmosphere like a storm tearing through their lives.

Her mother attempted to flee multiple times, and the family would leave temporarily, but escape never lasted. Jerry would find them, or Sharon would go back. The pattern repeated endlessly, Twain recounted.

Sharon had divorced Twain’s biological father, Clarence Edwards, when Shania was two. Jerry Twain became her stepfather when Sharon married him, and he adopted Shania and her siblings when she was four years old.

Tragedy and Responsibility

Both Sharon and Jerry died on November 1, 1987, in a collision with another vehicle near Wawa, Ontario, when Twain was 22 years old and just beginning her music career. Suddenly responsible for her younger siblings, she took work singing late-night shows at a resort hotel to provide for the family.

Those performances came with their own challenges. Twain has described feeling forced to present a glamorous, sexualized image while protecting herself from unwanted advances, projecting a self-assurance she had learned as a survival tool during years of trauma.

Previous Disclosures of Abuse

This isn’t the first time Twain has shared her story publicly. Her 2011 memoir “From This Moment On” contained detailed accounts of the violence Jerry inflicted on her and her mother, describing how she saw him attack Sharon. She wrote about one incident where she struck him with a chair to stop him from hurting her mother, and he responded by punching her in the jaw.

Jerry began sexually abusing Twain when she was 10, she has disclosed. In a 2018 interview with The Guardian, she discussed how the sexual violation intertwined with the other abuse, saying she learned to mentally disconnect because the abuser was someone in her own home.

The trauma shaped how Twain viewed her own body. In previous interviews about Jerry’s behavior, she described binding her chest and deliberately wearing bras that were too small to avoid drawing attention, developing a deep shame about being female in an environment where femininity felt like a liability. When she signed with a Nashville label in 1992, her demeanor communicated unmistakable guardedness — a physical warning to maintain distance.

Twain went on to become one of the most successful recording artists in history. With producer Robert “Mutt” Lange, she created “Come on Over,” which sold 40 million copies and remains the bestselling album by a female artist. Songs like “You’re Still the One” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much” made her a crossover sensation. Yet on Thursday, July 30, the artist who built an empire on anthems of strength revisited the terror that forged her resilience.

Those experiencing domestic violence or sexual assault can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-7233 or sending a text message with LOVEIS to 22522.