Shania Twain is proud to be comfortable with her body as she ages: 'I am only going to get older and saggier'
Shania Twain used to be at war with her body. But at 57, the country icon has found peace with her looks.
“I say you should look in the mirror and be fine with that. I am only going to get older and saggier — if I hate myself now then what state am I going to be in in five or 10 years?” Twain says in a new interview with U.K. newspaper the Mirror.
But getting to the point of ultimate comfort with herself proved to be a challenging prospect. Previously, the "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" singer would go to great lengths to avoid seeing the way her body changed as she aged.
“There were times I did like turning the lights off as all I could see were the imperfections so I said, ‘OK, how can I face this and get this to a point where I accept it?’" says Twain, adding that she was "freaking out inside but nobody knew it."
In an attempt to "find a more healthy and realistic perspective on myself," Twain had herself photographed naked for the cover of her 2022 single "Waking up Dreaming."
"I thought, ‘I am just going to force myself through this,'" she says of the photos. “Now, I look at myself naked and I like the honesty about myself."
Twain's battle with her self-image began as a teen, when her body started changing. Rapidly developing during a childhood that included sexual abuse and food insecurity, she thought about having plastic surgery to minimize her chest.
“When I was a teenager, my boobs got so big,” Twain shares. “I could not stop them from bouncing so I had to strap them down and wear two bras and loose clothing. I just did not want these boobs." While she "wanted" a breast reduction at the time, she's now grateful she never went through with it.
"I thought, ‘It is a good thing I did not do that. This is how I am supposed to look,'” says.
Following the death of her mother and stepfather in a car accident in 1987, Twain took on the added responsibility of caring for her three younger siblings. Already a working singer in Canada, she felt "exploited" about her body at the time. But as her 20s continued, she came to like her body. These days, she's reached a new level of peace, sharing that she feels she has become much more "fearless" in all her decisions, ranging from her personal life to her outlandish wardrobe choices.
"I'm way more fearless than I would've been. Years ago, I would've been more conscientious about, 'Is this too over-the-top?'" she told InStyle earlier this month, Yahoo Life previously reported. "I'm more adventurous now and I'm just excited about what is new and what I can experiment with."
In contrast to the anxiety she used to feel, Twain says she's "just not as worried as I was when I was younger. I'm a professional."
Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here.
