Shania Twain Says She Had To “Flatten” Her Chest To Avoid Stepfather’s Abuse As A Teenager

Shania Twain opened up about the abuse she suffered as a teenager at the hands of her stepfather in a new interview with The Sunday Times. Speaking with the outlet, Twain explained that the trauma had a lasting effect on her body image.

Detailing the sexual and physical abuse her stepfather, Jerry Twain, subjected her to growing up, Shania explained that she would attempt to flatten her chest for safety.

“I hid myself and I would flatten my boobs,” the singer said. “I would wear bras that were too small for me, and I’d wear two, play it down until there was nothing girl about me. Make it easier to go unnoticed. Because, oh my gosh, it was terrible — you didn’t want to be a girl in my house.”

She continued: “Then you go into society and you’re a girl and you’re getting the normal other unpleasant stuff too, and that reinforces it. So then you think, ‘Oh, I guess it’s just s—ty to be a girl. Oh, it’s so s—ty to have boobs.’ I was ashamed of being a girl.”

All-in-all, the abuse had a lasting effect on her comfortability expressing her femininity as she became a global superstar.

“All of a sudden it was like, well, what’s your problem?” she explained. “You know, you’re a woman and you have this beautiful body? What was so natural for other people was so scary for me. I felt exploited, but I didn’t have a choice now. I had to play the glamorous singer, had to wear my femininity more openly or more freely. And work out how I’m not gonna get groped, or raped by someone’s eyes, you know, and feel so degraded.”

The interview with The Sunday Times comes a month after the 25th anniversary of her classic album, Come On Over.

[Via]