Shania Twain didn’t rise from glamour — she rose from survival. Growing up poor in Timmins, Ontario, she often went hungry, pretended she’d “forgotten her lunch,” and escaped into the woods with her guitar. Her stepfather’s job barely kept the lights on, her mother battled depression, and music became the one place she could breathe.

At eight, Shania was already performing in bars to help support her family. By fourteen, she was juggling school, gigs, and a job at McDonald’s just to ensure she’d get regular meals. Home life was harsh and violent, and she later revealed she endured years of physical and sexual abuse from her stepfather.

At twenty-two, tragedy struck when her mother and stepfather died in a car accident. Shania put her dreams on hold to raise her siblings, working as a resort singer because the job came with a home. Only when her siblings grew independent did she finally pursue music full-time, landing a deal with Mercury Nashville and later creating global hits with producer Robert “Mutt” Lange.

Success came with new battles. Lyme disease damaged her vocal cords, nearly ending her career. Then her marriage collapsed after Lange’s affair with a close friend. In an unexpected twist, Shania found comfort and eventually love with that friend’s husband, Frédéric Thiébaud, whom she married in 2011.

From hunger to heartbreak, from abuse to arenas, Shania Twain rebuilt her life each time it broke. Her voice changed, her path changed—but her resilience never did. Her superstardom was shaped not by fame, but by the grit it took simply to survive.