Shania Twain Reveals The Traumatic Encounter That Prompted Her To Write 'Man! I Feel Like A Woman!'

Shania Twain opened up about what prompted her to write her hit anthem song, "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!"

Speaking to The Times, the Canadian superstar shared that when she was young, she was sexually assaulted by her stepfather, who had also physically abused her mother.

According to her, "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" was her "saying I have waited too long to feel good about being a woman," after experiencing such a traumatic encounter.

"For many years I shied away from it or wished I wasn't a woman. I was a shy, insecure female - not person," Twain recalled of the song's impact on her life.

At that time, Twain admitted to being insecure about her curves and her body, pushing her to go beyond and over to try not to attract attention to them.

"I knew boys were going to take advantage of me in one way or another," Twain added, remembering how she reflected on missing out on enjoying her girlhood at the time because of the abuse she experienced at the hands of her stepfather.

Eventually, Twain felt empowered, and then she decided to write the now iconic woman's anthem.

"I became tired of acting like I'm not a female with curves, so I wrote Man! I Feel Like a Woman! I guess I was a late bloomer in getting comfortable in my own skin, but after a while, you just have to stop picking away at the things you can't change," Twain confirmed.

Twain has since embraced her inner femininity and body, and she has made significant changes in her style in the past few years.

At the 2023 Grammy Awards, Twain switched up her usual brunette locks for fiery red hair.

In an interview with InStyle Magazine, Twain was candid about her confidence shift in her "Shania-ssance."

"I'm so ready for it. I'm way more fearless than I would've been. Years ago, I would've been more conscientious about, 'Is this too over-the-top?'" Twain confessed. "I'm more adventurous now and I'm just excited about what is new and what I can experiment with. I just love fashion for that. Just when you think there's nothing left to be created, somebody creates something new. I'm so inspired by that. When you can transform a living person just by putting something on, it's spectacular."

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Shania Twain