Shania Twain has opened up about the harrowing sexual abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her stepfather Jerry when she was just 10 years old.
The legendary country singer, who is currently promoting her latest album ‘Queen Of Me’ discussed her childhood ordeal in an interview on the Today Show in the US.
The 57-year old said the abuse by Jerry, who was killed in a car crash alongside her mother in 1987, had caused “lasting trauma” and made her embarrassed about her body.
READ MORE: Shania Twain, 57, showcases ageless curves as she poses topless in racy snap
The pop icon added that she is now attempting to embrace her body – which is her reason for posing naked for the album cover.
(Image: nbc)
“It means taking responsibility, ownership, of yourself,” Shania said of the album’s title.
Speaking to host Hoda Kotb she went on to discuss the nude nature of the record’s photography, which was produced as a way of dealing with the horrific abuse she was put through.
She said: “It’s really about saying I was abused as a kid. My stepfather would fondle me up on the top and make me go without a shirt and I was already maturing.
“This cringy horrible wanting to escape being in my own skin. I don’t love looking at myself in the mirror with the lights on or looking at the mirror at all at my body. So I said listen, I’m gonna face that fear.”
(Image: nbc)
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She continued: ‘It’s time to start loving myself in my own skin and really embracing that and not being embarrassed of it or shy of it.
“This is who I am. Loving who you are. I’m my own royalty. I’m the boss of me, and I’m responsible for the decisions I make, for what I say, for what I do.
“It’s a statement of self-confidence that I’ve grown into more over the last few years.”
Shania added that she wanted to “put fashion aside”, meanwhile, in order to focus on being her “authentic self”.
Queen Of Me is released on February 3.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
