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Country Legend Shania Twain: Best Instagram Photos from 2020

Country star Shania Twain has posted some standout photos on Instagram over the past year. And the singer shows no signs of slowing down in the new year, sharing a cute snap of her and husband Frédéric Thiébaud with their dog in the mountains on Jan. 3.

Shania Twain Takes to Instagram

There’s Twain on Christmas Eve, decked out in red flannel pajamas, hugging her dog on the sofa. Twain’s dog had a starring role in one of Twain’s more memorable performances in 2020, appearing alongside her horse to listen to Twain sing “Honey, I’m Home” and “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” for the special “ACM Presents: Our Country.”  

And there’s Twain in a throwback photo with Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion and other celebrity singers who appeared on VH1’s “Divas Live” in 1998. The event took place at the Beacon Theater in New York. It was a well-publicized concert to raise money for Save the Music, VH1’s education charity. And it was such a ratings hit that VH1 decided to release it on CD and tape later on that year.

Finally, there’s Twain onstage at the 2019 AMA Awards, “living my best life,” as she put it. In the photo caption, Twain sounded a bit wistful, as if she had been missing life before the pandemic. And who isn’t these days? Still, Twain’s crowd-pleasing performance at the AMAs was another memorable moment worth celebrating on Instagram.

All told, the photos suggest how important her career and her home life are to Twain. And while she’s at a good place in both now, neither has been an easy road for her.

Early Stardom Marred by Tragedy

Twain was still an aspiring musician when her parents died in a car crash. They would not live to see Twain find success in show business. Instead, they left her with younger siblings to support.

“At that point in my life, I would have rather gone with them,” Twain said in an interview, referring to her parents. “It was like, ‘This is way too much to handle.’”

So Twain got a job at a nearby resort singing in a Vegas-style show. It was there that she was discovered. She changed her name to Shania and signed a contract with Mercury Nashville in 1991.

Twain rocketed to stardom with her second record, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing from there. In 2015, according to People, she began having trouble with her vocal cords. It turned out the problem was due to Lyme disease.

“When I realized that I could barely sing at all anymore, I was like, ‘I’m humiliating myself. I can’t get out there and do this. I have to stop until I figure it out,’” Twain said.” I thought that it was just fatigue or burnout. But no — Lyme disease commonly affects the nerves. When I discovered a glimpse of hope, I ran with that.”

Twain underwent multiple surgeries, including at least one open-throat surgery, and emerged with a different – but functional – singing voice.

“It would have killed me not to be able to ever sing again,” Twain added. “Now I have more appreciation for it than ever.”

A Cheating Scandal Leads to Happiness

Twain married producer Robert “Mutt” Lange in 1993, roughly six months after they met at Nashville’s Fan Fair, according to Country Fancast. The two have a son together, Eja. 

But in 2008, Twain found out that Lange had been cheating on her with her then-best friend, Marie-Anne Thiébaud. And she found out from Marie-Anne’s husband Frédéric, who became Twain’s source of support as she divorced Lange and suffered a deep depression. The two got engaged in 2010 and married in 2011. 

Twain now lives with Frederic in Switzerland, where by all accounts they have a happy life together.