Sombre Shania Twain reflects on untimely death of her mother as singer turns 61

Shania Twain celebrated her 61st birthday on August 28, but the country superstar has also been taking the time to reflect,choosing to look back on the decades of her life that her mother did not get to see.

Shania’s mom, Sharon Morrison, was a huge inspiration for Shania, acting as the young girl’s manager, singing coach, and tour driver. Tragically, she died when Shania was 22 in a car accident alongside Shania’s stepfather Jerry Twain.

“Well, the past year flew by – today is my 61st Birthday and I’ve spent most of the year reflecting and looking backwards,” Shania shared on social media, alongside a series of pictures of her from the past year.

“One of the strange and emotional things about getting older is realising that my mother only ever knew me up to the age of 22. She never met the 30-year-old me, the 40, the 50, the 60, or me now,” 

Shania added that she “felt my mother threaded through so much of what I’ve been doing this year with the Little Miss Twain album,” her seventh studio album which she released in July, and was called deeply personal.

© Getty Images

“Sometimes I have to stop and think about how completely unbelievable all of this would have sounded to that little girl and to my mother! My dream at the time was to be able to busk in the streets of Toronto, I didn’t imagine something bigger, that seemed such a leap from where I was,” added Shania.

Shania then revealed that as she looks ahead to the future, she plans “to be kind to myself and others,” adding: “It’s what the world needs now. I want to enjoy these moments for exactly what they are and do as many new things as I can. 

“There are still so many things I dream of I would need another 500 years to get them all done. I want to face the things that scare me and enjoy the things that please me.”

© Kevin Mazur Getty Images for Sir

The birthday celebrations come as Shania returned to her home in Switzerland. “Taking a moment to rest at home in Switzerland after a crazy couple of months!” she shared with fans, including reconnecting with her husband, Frédéric Thiébaud.

The two have been married for 15 years, but they still experience the occasional “marital issue” just like any other couple, with Shania revealing that they have very different approaches when it comes to working through any issues in their marriage.

Shania admitted that while she is “a good communicator,” she would rather “meditate over the issue, take a walk or be alone with [her] guitar if [she’s] having a marital issue.”

Her husband, on the other hand, prefers to deal with any conflict immediately.

“Fred wants to talk about it. He wants to talk it through, and he wants to fix it,” she told People. “And that’s the best advice. I mean, he’s not wrong.”