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Shania Twain is in a new movie called I Still Believe with Gary Sinese and K.J. Apa, which is out this weekend. She was on a podcast called Ladygang promoting it. She explained that she did the movie because she finally had time after she got her voice healed post-lyme disease. She also had a lot of insightful things to say about her career, including her triumphs and regrets, and aging.
On recovering her voice after lyme disease
I feel wonderful that I made it through the other side of a very difficult journey and recovery. It was way worse than I thought it would be, but I’m now I love my new voice. It is different, it’s not what it was. I have two gortex crutches on either side of my larynx.
When she felt the most powerful and when she felt the weakest
The superbowl of 2003. I was ready to go out there and do what I always do. That’s the day that I met Gwen Stefani and she says ‘I want to get married someday and have kids. I don’t know how you do it all.’ She highlighted how big it was in that moment and how powerful it was for me as a woman who was doing it all.
I was asked to speak at a university on songwriting and I turned it down because I felt so insecure. I’m not formally educated, I don’t have college. I felt intimidated and shied away from it. I regret that.
On how she got confidence
I just started with time, stepping out of battles you can’t win. Aging is a battle you can’t win. That battle and the focus and energy it takes is taking up too much space in my life, my emotional state, my mental state. I’ve got songs to write. I’d rather dream about other things I want to do in my life. I want to daydream, fantasize and enjoy what I do have and forget about the stuff I can’t change or can’t have. It’s a waste of time and energy trying to slow my aging process down. I just want to be healthy. I’m so much more accepting now of the way I look, with and without clothes.
A state of mind that helps me is just saying ‘identify what it is that I can change and what it is I can’t change.’ It’s about letting go.
[From the Ladygang podcast via US Magazine]
After that they asked her about Vegas and she said she loves it, especially the performance community and the shopping.
They also asked if she was impressed much when Brad Pitt won his Oscar. She said she was happy for him and “I kind of feel like he’s been haunted by this song.” She’s never met him though. I’m not a Brad Pitt fan but I would still love it if someone made that happen.
I really like how she framed aging as inevitable and a waste of resources to fight. She’s probably obliquely referencing plastic surgery. I don’t want to slow it or fight it, I just want to look amazing as I do it. Is that the same as fighting it? Also, did you see the photo that Melanie Griffith just posted of her mom, Tippi Hedren? That’s how I want to age.
Shania at the 2003 Super Bowl! I’m including this because she mentioned this performance in her interview.
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