Having sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and garnering the well-deserved title of “Queen of Country Pop,” Shania Twain is the definition of an icon. Recently, the now 57-year old posed topless in a stunning photoshoot to promote her latest single, which prompted a heartwarming conversation about the star’s positive outlook on menopause, aging and all the natural changes she’s experiencing in this special stage of life.
“This is me expressing my truth. I’m comfortable in my own skin, and this is the way I am sharing that confidence,” Twain shares with People in reference to her topless cover art for her “Waking Up Dreaming” single. “I am a woman in my late 50s, and I don’t need to hide behind the clothes. I can’t even tell you how good it felt to do nude shooting.” The singer went on to explain how, despite being “well into menopause,” she doesn’t feel emotional or embarrassed in any way when it comes to her body. “I just feel okay about it,” she simply states. “It’s really liberating.”
This latest photoshoot is not the first time that Twain has taken risks and pushed boundaries when it comes to body positivity and acceptance, and the star explained that she had to overcome a lot of self-doubt to get to the place she’s in now. “From the very beginning—the very first video—I was ditching the bra,” she begins. “But, I was a lot firmer then, so as I grew older, I started feeling a different pressure of, ‘Well, your breasts are not as plump as they used to be. Your skin is not as tight as it used to be. Maybe you should start covering it up a little bit more.'” Between criticism from the media and the trauma she suffered at the hands of sexual abuse from her stepdad as a child, it took a lot for Twain to overcome the fear she had surrounding her body.
But, when the singer began to feel this fear growing, she decided to be bold rather than shy away. “I hit this wall and was like, ‘Whoa, my confidence is regressing. My courage is dulling. Why am I allowing this?'” she explains, “I am not regressing. I am embracing my body as it changes, as I should have from my childhood to my teens, as I should be from my taut, 20s and 30-year-old self, to my menopausal body. I’m not going to be shy about it. I want to be courageous about it, and I want to share that courage in the artwork that I am directing.”
Speaking for myself, there are few times I feel more empowered than when “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” begins to play, and now, we can all learn from this country music legend by not being scared of the changes that come with the natural progression of life, but enjoying them instead.
