Shania Twain has issued a letter on her website expressing her joy at becoming engaged to her ex husband’s mistress’ ex husband, as Kaiser so aptly put it. Some of you speculated in the comments that Shania potentially cheated on her husband first by hooking up with her now-fiance, who was a family friend. I followed this story closely when it came out, and am convinced that Shania’s husband, “Mutt” Lange, cheated on her with his secretary/estate manager, after which Shania and the secretary’s husband found solace in each other. In fact the National Enquirer tracked Lange down in Switzerland two years ago to get a comment on his wife’s new romance with his girlfriend’s ex husband, and he seemed genuinely surprised that those two had hooked up. (He also kind of gave Shania his blessing, the bastard.) Anyway, here’s what Shania wrote. It’s flowery and over the top, but she really seems like she’s an emotional person like that. I remember how she cried on American Idol when Big Mike sang “It Only Hurts When I’m Breathing.”
Seasons greetings to all!
I’ve spent much time over the course of this past year, learning about others who have suffered loss in their lives and taken inspiration from how they’ve managed to overcome it. I’m learning that grief and the suffering of loss, challenges me to be more sensitive and understanding of other’s and also more accepting of my own struggles. Challenge reminds me how important it is to let those who love me, care for me when I need it. The support of others has helped me to move forward less fearful of change, allowing me to embrace the beauty of life today and remain more open to whatever it brings tomorrow.
The people who make my life the most joyful are the ones I am able to lean on because of my own humanness. In the last two and a half years of adjusting to life after separation and divorce, I needed to lean on others more often than I was accustomed to. These people have been gifts, and I am fortunate to have so many of these beautiful people – friends, family and beloved fans, who’s support I cherish more deeply with each day that passes. Now another year is about to pass, and I would like to thank everyone who helped me believe that new beginnings are possible and that love can be trusted. Thank you!
2010 is leaving me with a renewed faith in love and commitment. I believe in the right to be loved and the blessing of being able to love in return. Talking about love, I am excited to share some personal news with you; I’m in love! Frederic Nicolas Thiebaud has been a true gift to me as a compassionate, understanding friend and over time, an amazing love has blossomed from this precious friendship. Fred and I are happy to announce, our ENGAGEMENT!
Love, peace and happiness is taking me in to 2011 and I’m feeling refreshed and optimistic about the future. I’m looking forward to what the new year has in store and to sharing it with you. So, I’ll be in touch with more news and details soon. Until then, have a fantastic holiday season and I wish you love.
Sincerely,
Shania
[From Shania Twain’s website]
So, do you think that Shania and this Fred guy just started hanging out as a big F U to their exes? There were quite a few staged paparazzi pics of them at the time that suggested that they were getting a huge kick out of it.
Also, as Kaiser reported Shania’s engagement is on the cover of the new US Weekly this week. I tend to think that Shania announced it to coincide with her new reality show, which premieres on the Oprah Network in January. I also think she’s pretty triumphant after all she went through, and I don’t blame her. It seemed clear to me that she gave People Magazine the details of her husband’s infidelity back in 2008 and now she’s all “I’m engaged, bitches.” I love how she stayed out of the spotlight for so long and then kind of edged back at a difficult and critical time in her life. She’s a survivor.
Header image via CoverAwards
@Celebitchy
Great writeup and IMO you got it exactly right. Shania is a very nice person with conservative values who has a great voice. I’ve no doubt her relationship with “Fred” began as a shared heartbreak and AFTER the divorce they found love in each other.
peace and blessings… i always did like her better than faith hill
the infidelity of the respective spouses was the only excuse they needed to act on what was a mutual attraction for many years…imho.
& she still looks fab.
She looks amazing. Go Shania. I hope she has found happiness at last.
This woman’s life story is truly inspiring. The tragedy of losing both parents at a young age and leaving a career right at the point when it was starting to take off, sacrificing her opportunity to go home and sing at a resort to take care of her younger siblings and then breaking through years later as a major country star and the first crossover into pop – she literally changed the landscape of country music and pop music. Her personal life was always personal even at the heights of her fame, and she left the limelight to raise her child away from the craziness of Hollywood. Then her husband cheats on her with one of her closest friends…to come out of that with her head held high and a surviving trust in others to the point where she feels she can marry again…I wish her nothing but the best. I believe she and Fred were nothing but platonic friends, and who else could understand what they were going through but each other…so it seems right their relationship would deepen over time. I hope her personal life is fulfiling for her and I hope she returns to the public life with great success.
See I have mixed feelings about her. I like her for the most part and know that she’s had a rough go of things, but I also know some of the stuff she’s told the press is totally fake, like being an orphan. (She’s got a father and he supported her throughout the years while she got her act together). She also wasn’t as poor growing up as she says she was but she did have a rough time with her stepfather who wasn’t so good to her Mom. So I don’t know the details of exactly how her marriage broke up, think it’s kind of weird she’s with Fred, but wish her and her little boy every happiness.
@ Atticus – She didn’t lose both parents in a car accident, even though that’s what she claims. Her real father is very much alive and did help her over the years. She just didn’t want much to do with him once she got famous. A couple of things she told the press when she first made it big caused a LOT of controversey here in Canada because they simply weren’t true. (Like her claiming she was Native Indian, an orphan, poor growing up, etc.)
DGO – you are right, I forget it was her adopted parents who died in the car accident. Ok, well the public persona she spun won me over!
@ Atticus – It’s just that I feel badly for her birth father. He’s an engineer here in Canada, and supported Shania for years. Once she became famous, she lied about not having a father and lied that she was Native Indian. It aws a huge deal here in Canada, with many saying her career would never recover. Mutt cleverly spun a response and Shania donated huge amounts of money to Timmins (the place she grew up in, but not the place she was born). That kind of quieted things for awhile but people still remember.
DGO what huge deal? I live in Canada too and while there were moanings and groanings back in the day about her origins and her story, it was not a huge deal.
Her adopted father was Ojibwe. Her name was legally changed to Twain as a toddler and I do believe given that, she could adopt his culture and call herself Ojibwe if she so desired. Even the changing of her name to Shania is not a lie to me nor an attempt at duping the public. To me it seemed a loving gesture and tribute to a man who clearly had an impact on her life and whose loss deeply affected her.
It is not uncommon for people to express their grief or their desire to remain close to someone they love and cherish by taking on their name or some facet of their culture as a tribute to their memory.
Pretty sure her dead father wouldn’t object to her doing so either, that was his child regardless and who are we to take away her identity? Because there is no blood line to validate it?
Whatever.
DGO – I’m bummed to hear about this because I’d been such a fan for so long. I’m with you, though, I agree it is really crummy (to put it mildly) for her birth father and to lie about her ethnicity. I’m naive and a Pollyanna by nature…stings a little when I realize I was a sucker.
@DGO: I also remember the BS. She would be a bar singer today if it hadn’t been for Mutt Lange and she knows it.
There is something uber fishy about this whole thing.
And I just LOVE the how Scarlett broke poor boohoo Ryan’s heart box in the corner. He is really laying this “poor me” crap on thick!
Her life reads like a Danielle Steele novel. All I can say about Shania is that she is a survivor. She has depth and a strong sense of self. I truly hope she is happy and that this love lasts.
Shania Twain and Co. are totally mocking on the way the Habsburgs keep in the family to such an extent that exes marry ex in-law. Anyway, wasn’t there a Harrison Ford about this where two cheaters died on a plane and the surviving spouses got together?
I don’t know why southerners always have to keep it so close to the family! Don’t they know it’s a big world out there?
“I don’t know why southerners always have to keep it so close to the family! Don’t they know it’s a big world out there?”
Southerners??? Really?? Don’t you all know that Shania is the pride of Timmins, Ontario? Canadians can write shitty country music too.
But I totally agree about the “small pool”, just goes to show, she may live in Switzerland, but Shania still has some Northern Ontario hoser in her.
Good for her, is the Mutt still with Freds’ ex?
It was cruel for commenters to make up the “they were switching partners” theory. Why make things up when you have no idea?
Why am I supposed to care about this person? She’s a has been, talentless country singer who lied about her past to get press coverage when she got famous. And this whole situation of swinging and swapping partners is twisted.
I’m with skibunny! While I like Shania and thinks she would have been 100X better on Idol than JLo, she would have stayed a bit player in the Catskills if Mutt Lange hadn’t gifted her with his talent. She has done NOTHING musically since they split, and even before that she hasn’t sung in years- she was the only mentor ever on IDOL to not sing on the show. I have a feeling she was terribly “enhanced” during her recordings and concerts. Alot of people think she’s the CDAN blind about the singer who didn’t do her own singing.
@ skibunny – Do you remember that old guy from the lodge who paid for her to get her teeth fixed and send her to Nashville? There were rumours about why he paid thousands to fix her up.
@ Atticus – Shania (Eileen) was born in Windsor then grew up in Timmins. There are enough people from Windsor and Timmins who know her birth father and who grew up with her, who remember her story far differently than she tells it, which is a real shame. For example, when Shania was around 30, she shot “prom” pictures then lied they were her real prom pictures. When people called her out on never attending prom, (we don’t even have proms in Canada),she said she bought a dress (from abject poverty), did her hair and make-up, took pictures, but just didn’t bother to go.
So lots of strange stuff. Timmins papers were full of stories and Shania had to come up with some good spin to win favour back. She told people that her birth father (not her adopted father) was Native Indian, and later had to retract that one. Again, not really blaming her for anything but taking some very bad advice from Mutt because she wanted to be famous so badly.
Bite me I totally agree with you, Shania Twain writes her own songs where as Faith Hill rarely does so I have much respect for her on this, plus Faith Hill does too much vocal gymnastics kind of like Celine Dion and Christina Aguilera while Shania just sings instead of screaming.
Why does this no talent have a tv show? All she did was leer at the dudes on Idol. Is it a show where she can perve on guys?
Anyone who calls her no-talent isn’t familiar with her work. She did literally change the landscape and scope of country music. About the father thing … I think she viewed her adoptive parents who died as her “real” parents. Adopted kids usually do. She had a right to say her parents died because they did. She is a true talent and I wish her well.
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