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SHANIA TWAIN: ON HER WAY

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Hard times behind her, the country star sets her sights on helping others

Reader's Digest
January 2005
By ALANNA NASH

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Quick, who's the only singer ever to have three consecutive albums certified 10 times platinum? No, not Patsy Cline. Not Whitney Houston. Not even Michael Jackson. It's Shania Twain, the 39-year-old Canadian who shook up Nashville with her hook-laden brand of corn-fed pop, forever changing the sound and look--goodbye pouffy gowns, hello bare midriff--of country music.

But that was Twain's second biggest accomplishment. The first was simply surviving. Born Eileen Regina Edwards in Windsor, Ontario, she made it through hardship before she ever thought of the record charts. In her childhood home, there was often not enough to eat and no electricity. Her father walked out on the family when she was two. And she was left to care for her three younger siblings when her mother and stepfather were killed in a car accident the year she turned 22.

Though she'd been singing in bars since age eight, her first thought was to forget music. But, with all those mouths to feed, she needed a paycheck, fast. So the one-time tomboy became a resort singer, and morphed into one of the sexiest women alive.

Married to music producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange and mother to three-year-old son, Eja, Twain has just released a greatest-hits album. She's also pouring herself into her new personal goal, building a children's charity to keep poor families -- like hers was -- from falling through the cracks.

Twain's intelligent brown eyes snapped when she talked with RD about tragedy, success and more, during a recent stopover in Los Angeles.

RD: You turn 40 this year. Is that a little scary for you?

Twain: My mother died at 42, and I remember when she was in her late 30s, she used to say, "I'm approaching 40, and I'm loving getting older." She was getting to the point where she was struggling less with her life, and I feel the same way. I've got so many things to look forward to.

RD: Tell us about some of them.

Twain: Not a day goes by that I'm not planning this charity to help underprivileged kids, hungry kids in North America. I know what happened to us and what happens to a lot of kids, and somebody needs to help them.

RD: What would your charity do?

Twain: The goal is to find these kids before they end up in social services. All they need is encouragement, support, a place to sleep, food to eat, and they would be on their way.

RD: So your charity would be named after you, since Shania, in your stepfather's native language, means "I'm on my way."

Twain: There you go!

RD: When you were growing up, you could have used a charity like that.

Twain: My parents couldn't always feed us, or couldn't pay the heating bills. Many times we had to go to bed with many layers on and our clothes or coat. A lot of winters I got frostbite. We could have relied on the Native social welfare system, but my father had too much pride. I respect him for all the decisions he made. He was so desperate to break out of that mold of being a Native Canadian on the welfare system. He just couldn't bear it. So a lot of times, we suffered.

RD: Was there a point when you hit rock bottom?

Twain: A few times I was tempted to go to social services at school and say, "We haven't eaten anything but bread and milk in five days. Someone's go to help us." But I never did it.

RD: Your dad would have been angry?

Twain: No. It was because I knew we would have been separated. Children's Aid would have come in and taken us away. It was better to bear it. I was 13, and I remember saying to myself, This is the worst year of my life. I'm never going to have another year like this. And I never did, actually.

RD: Were you embarrassed at school when you didn't have a proper lunch?

Twain: We lied, said, "Oh, I'm not hungry," or, "I had a big breakfast." I remember starving, and watching kids put things back into their lunch.

RD: And you didn't say, "If you're not going to eat that, I'll take it?"

Twain: This is why it's so important to me to help hungry kids, because kids don't have the courage. They'd rather starve than go through the humiliation of admitting they're starving.

RD: All through this period you had to be a mother to your mother, who suffered from depression, right?

Twain: Yes. My oldest sister left home quite young, and I was my mother's friend. I got her through a lot of things. It was my music. She thought there was hope for us because I sang. She couldn't have known. She just had to cling to something. Maybe that's what gave me my strength. But I resented the pressure of being her savior.

RD: She actually used to push you to perform. She'd wake you up at midnight to go sing in local clubs.

Twain: Yes. I remember one time my mother snuck me out through the back window and took me to sing somewhere. My father had said, "No, you can't. We don't have the gas money." When we got back, I got in big trouble.

RD: How did things turn around for you and your family?

Twain: My mother was very depressed at the time--she wasn't getting out of bed. I decided that I had to convince her to take us to Toronto, where they have a lot of good programs for desperate families. Where we were living in these small towns, they didn't have anything. I was 13 then and told my mother to get in the car the next day when my dad was gone. I said, "All you've got to do is drive." I don't know why she listened to me. I think she was numb. We drove to Toronto and went to a shelter. We finally got fed every day.

RD: Then what happened?

Twain: My father was furious and couldn't find us for a long time. I told my mother, "Don't tell him where we are." I was just so desperate not to go back to what we were in. In Toronto, I got a singing job and my mother got a cooking job in the same club, and on weekends I did sales phone work for the club. We left the shelter eventually and got into special housing.

RD: Do you think your drive comes from growing up poor?

Twain: I was the type that would have worked two or three jobs to make it. There's no way I was ever going to be poor again. I remember when I was 18 and was cleaning my vocal coach's house in trade for lessons. He'd feed me once in a while too. From up in his studio I would look down on the corner outside his house where the taxis used to pick up and drop off the hookers. I though, These girls are probably going home with something in their pocket at least. I would never have gone that far, but I can relate to people who have to struggle to get by.

RD: Are you in touch with your biological father?

Twain: He [once] reached out, but we just weren't ready. So we never really opened that door.

RD: You practice the Sant Mat religion, which, according to what I've read, calls for vegetarianism and daily meditation, strict avoidance of premarital sex, alcohol and drugs. What appealed to you about Sant Mat?

Twain: The basic principles are no different from anything that respects the Ten Commandments. Good principles about living a healthy, positive life. When I was a teenager, I was practicing Christianity very strongly, and then I went through different phases as to what I believed in. But I was always in search of self-improvement. That's what Sant Mat does for me. It helps me reflect.

RD: Now that you are older and a Mom, do you still practice as strictly?

Twain: Oh, definitely. My husband was already practicing when I met him. I'm still a long way from being the person I want to be. I think it takes many, many lives to get where you need to be spiritually. I believe very much in destiny.

RD: What do you think your life so far says about your destiny?

Twain: I've been through a lot, and I'm sure there are going to be trying times throughout the rest of my life. But I think a lot of my basic struggles are over, because the struggles I experienced up until I had any kind of success were linked pretty much to lack of money.

RD: You married your husband six months after meeting him. Do you think you were meant for each other?

Twain: We were--I followed my heart and it didn't let me down! He's just a beautiful person. We have a very strong relationship. We've survived all the pressures that careers like ours can put on a marriage: moving around, separations you have to endure, the intense time together, all the change you have to flow with. And we're still very happy. I look at him with complete adoration and love. I melt. We just went to a wedding, and I looked at him and thought, Wow! I feel like we're still in the beginning.

RD: A lot of women wish they could say that. What's the secret?

Twain: There are times when we're compatible in different ways. Sometimes we're more romantically in tune with each other. Other times we're more creatively in tune. Different parts of our relationship dominate at different periods in our lives.

RD: What are your hopes for your son?

Twain: I hope he can find happiness in this world. I think it's going to be difficult, but I hope he can.

RD: Difficult because? ...

Twain: I think we're heading into a very turbulent time. I'm really worried about it for the kids. I'm also worried about his happiness as our child. I think money is a burden. All anybody ever needs is just enough money to eat and have a roof over their heads. Any more than that is a stress. He's going to have money, and he's going to be stressed.

RD: I've heard that you're fairly frugal, that your husband wanted you to buy a new car, but you wouldn't do it.

Twain: He's still trying. I've had the same car for several years. It's a fabulous car. Why would I want another car? I genuinely don't have an interest in things. You don't need all this stuff. My everyday clothes around the house are the same clothes I've had for 10 years. I mean, I'm a fashion disaster!

RD: Why do you live in Switzerland?

Twain: Switzerland has four seasons. And it's beautiful and a very discreet country. People are very unimpressed, and I need that. In Switzerland, I'm myself and nobody cares who I am.

RD: Do you still think of yourself as Canadian?

Twain: I think like a Canadian. Canadians are pretty down-to-earth and really cut through the crap. That's the way I am. My biggest challenge as an entertainer is that I've got to be Miss Congeniality. I want to be a nice person, but I also want to be real.

RD: Is Eileen Edwards a different person from Shania Twain?

Twain: Same exact person. When I was a kid, I used to go and sing for the Golden Manor, an old-age home. I went in there and knew I had to smile for those people and make them feel good. I've always felt service is just a part of what I'm doing as an entertainer. When I do concerts, I feel like I'm hosting a party. It's my responsibility to make sure people go home happy.

RD: How about you? Are you happy?

Twain: I'm still searching. I need to decide where I'm going from here. I'm going to be very involved in my charity. I have a lot to contribute there. Maybe the whole purpose of my life up to now has been to prepare me for what I have to do next. It may not be anything about Shania, fame--any of those things. And that's fine with me.

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