One of the bigger gossip stories in the late 2000s/early 2010s was Shania Twain’s divorce from Mutt Lange after his affair with her good friend, Marie-Anne Thiébaud. An affair and divorce is not a super huge scandal in celebrity world nowadays, but the thing that made Shania and Mutt’s situation so memorable was when Shania ended up falling in love with and marrying Anne-Marie’s ex-husband Frédéric. Mutt and Marie-Anne got married as well. Both sets of swapped couples remain married today.
Over the years, Shania has spoken about how devastated the affair and subsequent divorce left her. Shania appeared as a guest on the May 28 episode of the podcast Great Company with Jamie Laing. During the interview, Jamie asks her about having had to deal with forgiveness in her life and asks if she has any advice to give to listeners who themselves are struggling to forgive. Shania responds that while forgiveness is in the family of “letting go” for her, it’s not about forgetting what happened, but about “understanding” the other person’s behavior, even if they were clearly wrong. Her own lessons in forgiveness began with trying to process the trauma caused by her abusive stepfather, but it helped her with eventually realizing that Mutt made a mistake, but it was his mistake that he’ll have to live with.
On Tuesday’s episode of the “Great Company with Jamie Laing” podcast, the “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” singer said she doesn’t hate her ex-husband Robert “Mutt” Lange for having an affair with her friend Marie-Anne Thiébaud, leading to the end of their marriage.
“Do I hate my ex-husband for making a mistake? No,” she said. “It’s his mistake, not my mistake. (It’s) sad for him that he made such a grave mistake that he has to live with. … That’s not my weight.”
Twain, 58, discussed her divorce on the podcast when she was asked for her advice on offering forgiveness. After noting “how difficult it can be to let go,” she said that forgiveness is “not about forgetting, necessarily,” but about “understanding” the other person.
“That might mean that they’re wrong,” she said. “Maybe you believe forever that whatever they did was wrong.”
The Grammy-winner added, “It’s very hard to hate, or not be able to forgive, somebody that you believe is a human being that deserves empathy and understanding, and I think we all do.”
Twain was married to Lange, a record producer, from 1993 until they separated in 2008. She has said that the marriage ended after she learned her husband was having an affair with Thiébaud, her good friend.
Twain and Lange’s divorce was finalized in 2010. Together they share a son, Eja. Since 2011, Twain has been married to Frédéric Thiébaud, Marie-Anne’s ex-husband. She said on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in 2011 that she learned of the affair through Frédéric.
In an interview with People magazine in 2022, Twain called it a “a very low period” in her life but that she no longer harbors resentment toward her ex-husband.
“I found peace a long time ago, and maybe peace is forgiveness, you know?” Twain told People. “I’m able to have more appreciation for him again, not for what happened in our marriage but for all that he contributed to such a great part of my career and my life. We have a beautiful child from it. The resentment is gone.”
“It’s his mistake, not my mistake. (It’s) sad for him that he made such a grave mistake that he has to live with. … That’s not my weight.” Those are such wise words. It took some time for her to get to this place, which is understandable, as Marie-Anne was Shania’s very close friend while she was living with Mutt in Switzerland. It sounds like over the years, Shania has thoughtfully processed what Mutt did to her and she’s come to the very healthy conclusion that she can’t carry that weight anymore. Frederic was the one who alerted her to their affair, too. They were merely acquaintances before everything went down, but grew close while going through that very difficult betrayal together. It’s kind of crazy how sometimes, something bad causes a life shakeup that leads to something even better. Good for Shania to getting to such a good place. I’m not sure if I could do it as gracefully as she did.
You can listen to Shania’s interview with Jamie Laing here.
Photos credit: Judy Eddy / Wenn / Avalon, Sandbox Entertainment, Supplied by PacificCoastNews.com / Avalon, Faye’s Vision/Cover Images, Getty
What a great and wise message on forgiveness and also appreciate she focuses on her ex husband’s mistake, not the woman, even though she was a friend and it was also a huge betrayal.
She got her freedom though and a major upgrade with Frederic. So great to see her having personal and professional fulfillment.
The Shania documentary on Netflix or prime (can’t remember) is really worthwhile, I had no idea how much agency she had in shaping her image as a country/pop star.
Honestly, she sounds like someone who has gotten a LOT of therapy, which is great. I really do think that holding onto anger and resentment is emotionally debilitating and in the end, self-sabotaging. But I imagine she did feel very angry and betrayed at first and put a lot of work into processing the stages of grief. I think it also probably helped her to have Frederic, going through the same thing, and holding her hand throughout.
On a superficial note I love that pic of them on the beach. Gorgeous, simple wedding dress and they both look so genuinely happy.
I saw her in concert pre pandemic. She spoke about it and said it was like falling off a cliff and while she was falling she looked over and there was Frederic falling next to her. She was wounded deeply and hurt for years so I’m glad to hear she’s found peace with that time
I wish we would stop platforming Trump supporters.
I had to look that up as it would come as a surprise. Also Shania is Canadian, she might not be able to vote in america.
She walked her comments back in 2018 or do you have something more recent in mind?
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/23/entertainment/shania-twain-donald-trump-apology/index.html
No. And I’m not here for people “walking it back.”
@Tuesday “Not here for people ‘walking it back'” is kind of an ironic position to take on an article about forgiveness…
💯👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@Tuesday — I suppose you have a completely clean and unblemished record of who you’ve supported or admired in your past? I think not. Holding grudges is unhealthy.
Come on now @Tuesday, she is no Dennis Quaid. Honestly, Trump fooled a lot of people in 2016 *with the help of Putin*
Thankfully, many of them wised up in 2020.
Biden/Harris 2024!!!!
The best advice I ever heard about forgiveness (and borne out by my own experiences in life) was the following:
“Forgiveness is not about another person. It is about freeing yourself from anger”.
so true. also, this “sometimes, something bad causes a life shakeup that leads to something even better.” is very true! it takes a minute tho. but it’s worth the effort.
Wonderful to hear she has moved on. This was a huge betrayal, but let’s be honest people usually have it so much worse. She had this horrible thing happen to her so she got to cry from her mansion and didn’t have to worry about the financial aspect of a divorce and this betrayal at the same time. She also basically immediately found a much hotter younger replacement who was also the hurt party. (Her ex just ended up with another cheater). Everyone else is navigating the financial stress of having to move to a much smaller house or apartment while being alone and trying to date d***ebags for years. These guys come from a very limited pool of “men who are okay dating women over 40 with a child” so this sort of thing usually breaks people because they are financially strapped unable to provide for their child and alone. Shania just gets to laugh with her hot husband from her mansion at her idiot ex. Good for her!
I get what she’s saying but it would resonate more if she had removed herself from the circle
…not only her ex betrayed her; her “friend” did too…
The couple swapping is weird af. Same situation with Andrew Shue and Marilee Fiebig. I guess it is easy, immediate and trauma bonding but one could think it would be better to find a new partner with no involvement in the matter to truly move on to a happier place.
Fully agree