Shania Twain Claims She Performed for Drunken Men: “It Made Me Really Hate Being in the Spotlight”
As a minor, Shania Twain admitted to getting out of bed and performing for drunk men at nightclubs to appease her mother. Although it caused her to suffer from stage fright for many years, the Canadian actress maintains that she doesn't 'regret' it. She spoke up about her childhood and how she would sing to help support her family. She would get up at midnight when she was eight years old and go out for a performance.
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As reported by Mirror, on Dermot O'Leary's Reel Stories, Twain revealed, "I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t love stinky, smoky bar rooms with drunk men fighting. It did make me really hate being in the spotlight. I had stage fright for a very long time." While talking about her mother, she added, "My music made her happy. [Her] plan was I’d be the next Tanya Tucker. I didn’t want do it. I’m petrified. But my mother was like, 'This is the only way you’re going to get anywhere'." Twain continued by saying that money was essential as her family was 'starving'. Also, she was passionate about music and wanted to be a singer-songwriter so that she could escape her terrible situation.
Despite all her remarkable achievements, beauty, and glamour, Twain attributes her strength to overcoming the challenges she faced as a youngster. Sadly, Twain's adoptive father, Jerry, was abusive to her. Twain once revealed that she believed most of the hostility was focused on her since the Twain family was so impoverished that she was practically always hungry. As reported by ABC News, Twain revealed to Nightline in 2011 that Jerry had a history of abusing her mother, Sharon Morrison; in fact, she thought he might kill her on many occasions.
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She went on to describe a horrifying episode in which Jerry dipped Sharon's head into the toilet. She recalled, "I thought he'd killed her. I really thought she was drowned, or dead, or that he had just smashed her head in and she was never going to wake up. ... She looked dead. She was unconscious, she was limp, hanging from his, you know, her, he had her hair in his hands. So I'd gone though the shock and experience of really believing my mother had died at that moment. Also, through the humiliation of how I thought she had been killed, by drowning in a toilet seat. ... It was very, very obviously very hard to take."
Tragically, Twain's youth was marred by more than just the trauma she endured. Jerry Twain and Sharon Morrison, her parents, died in a car accident in 1987, and the pain was only starting. Returning home to care for her siblings after the tragedy revealed the very reliable Twain, who was 22 years old at the time. Nevertheless, there was a glimmer of hope among the darkness. She became an extraordinarily powerful lady and landed a local singing job after returning home. This propelled her to stardom and discovery, and she is now a household name throughout the world.