Think back to 1997. Shania Twain, clad in head-to-toe leopard print, fiercely declaring exactly what didn’t impress her much. For decades, she has been our country-pop Queen. So, seeing her command the stage at Wembley Stadium alongside Gen-Z darling Harry Styles feels entirely right. She’s still got the boots; she’s still got the belt; she’s still the queen of the stadium show.
© InstagramBut behind the glittering costumes and the roaring crowds, the singer was recently confronting a very different, deeply relatable shift behind the curtain. She was facing her own changing womanhood. And in true Shania fashion, she isn’t hiding it.
In a beautifully candid interview with The Times, Shania pulled back the velvet curtain on her experience with menopause. For a global icon whose brand has always been rooted in celebrating the absolute best aspects of being a woman, hitting the midlife wall was a jarring reality check.
"In menopause you lose control of your body," Shania admitted. "So all of a sudden I’m bloating and I’m definitely not in control. I can’t just lose five pounds."
© Getty ImagesCan I get a collective, midlife amen? For women over 40, these words hit like a bolt of lightning. We live in a culture that relentlessly sells us the lie that if we just try harder, eat less, and run further, we can remain frozen in time.
But menopause (or perimenopause for that matter) doesn't care about our goals (or even our willpower!). The sudden bloating, the stubborn shift in distribution, the realisation that our tried-and-true weight loss methods suddenly fail us - it isn’t just a physical transition. It’s an identity crisis. When a body you’ve known intimately for 40+ years suddenly starts to go a different route, it feels like, well, a betrayal.
© WireImageThe Battle with the Mirror
Shania recalled the agonising moments spent in her dressing room before taking the stage: "I stopped looking at myself in the mirror. I hated my body. I’m, like, ‘Oh, I cannot stand this changing body.’ But that was so unhealthy. Who cannot look at themselves in the mirror?"
It’s a heartbreaking admission, but a relatable one. How many of us have caught a glimpse of our changing figure in a passing mirror or a harsh bathroom light and felt a sudden wave of grief? When our bodies stop behaving the way they used to, it is incredibly easy to turn that frustration inward and banish ourselves from our own view.
Before finding peace, Shania did what many of us try to do in our panic: she tried to bully her body back into submission. She exercised vigorously and drastically cut out fats and sugars.
“I was doing very unhealthy things,” she reflected. “And I was working my body more than I was feeding it, to keep up with the strain.”
The result wasn't a magically restored 20-something physique; instead, it exacerbated a thigh injury and slowed her recovery. This is the crucial turning point in her story, and the ultimate cautionary tale for our generation. We cannot punish our bodies into youthfulness. When we starve and overwork ourselves to maintain an arbitrary standard, we aren’t practicing health - we are practicing self-sabotage. Our changing bodies do not need punishment; they need nourishment, rest, and a bit of good ol' fashioned kindness.
© YouTubeBring on the Mirrors!
Thankfully, Shania realised she needed to assess her lifestyle and, more importantly, change her mindset. Her ultimate conclusion is nothing short of revolutionary for women navigating this chapter.
"Now I’m, like, bring on the mirrors, I’m going to look at myself all day long!" she said. "Menopause has been very good for me because I’ve learnt that some things you cannot control."
Read that again. Menopause has been very good for me.
© Getty ImagesShania’s evolution from mirror-avoidance to mirror-embracing is the exact energy we need to channel. She accepted that control is an illusion, and in doing so, she reclaimed her power.
So, the next time the bloating hits, or the scale refuses to cooperate, don't look away. Take a breath, look in the mirror, and celebrate the body that has carried you through four-plus decades of life, love, resilience, and reinvention. If Shania Twain can look menopause in the eye and demand the mirrors be brought back into the room, so can we. Man! I feel like a midlife woman - and honestly? That impresses me immensely.
What do you make of Shania's comments in her latest interview? Tell us in the comments box below.
