Shania Twain says menopause freed her from mirror traps

Shania Twain, 60, says menopause gave her a turning point after years of intense body scrutiny, including a 2019 Las Vegas residency period when she injured thigh muscles and felt “malnourished” trying to be thinner. In a new interview, she describes how the t

Shania Twain didn’t remember the exact moment her body image spiraled—she just remembers what it cost.

In an interview with The Times published on Saturday, the singer recalled struggling with her body image during her 2019 Las Vegas residency. Twain said she tore two thigh muscles, then had to be carried off stage after becoming “malnourished” while trying to “be thinner.”

That experience, she said, collided with a reality she couldn’t outrun: menopause. “In menopause you lose control of your body,” Twain told The Times. “So all of a sudden I’m bloating and I’m definitely not in control. I can’t just lose five pounds.”

Twain said the pressure showed up as avoidance. She told the paper she wasn’t able to look at herself in the reflection before going on 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?” Twain said.

Driven by insecurity, she described a period of extreme behavior—intense workouts paired with diet cuts aimed at keeping weight off. “I was doing very unhealthy things,” she said. “And I was working my body more than I was feeding it, to keep up with the strain.”

As the thigh injury worsened and recovery dragged on, Twain said she began to reconsider what she was demanding from herself. Instead of treating her body like an opponent, she said she started to confront it.

“Now I’m, like, bring on the mirrors, I’m going to look at myself all day long!” Twain said. “Menopause has been very good for me because I’ve learnt that some things you cannot control.”

Her comments echo earlier remarks from 2023, when she said menopause helped her put her insecurities into perspective. Twain had told The New York Post in 2023. “Menopause taught me to quickly say. ‘You know. it may only get worse. So just love yourself now. Just get over your insecurities — they’re standing in your way. And fear is standing in your way.’”.

Other Hollywood women have described similar shifts. Katherine Heigl told Business Insider in July that navigating perimenopause while parenting teenagers gave her and her kids unexpected common ground. Heigl said. “Their hormones are all over the place. they’re trying to adapt and get used to their new bodies and their new ways of thinking. and I am too. So the only thing I can do is look at them and go. ‘Well. at least we’re in it together. ‘” adding that the experience helped them feel less alone in the transition.

In January, Gabrielle Union said menopause initially made her feel like her “value as a woman” was “diminishing.” Over time, however, Union said she came to see the transition differently: “It challenges you to look at life differently — and not as an ending, but as a beginning,” she said.

For Twain, the message is direct and rooted in the weeks and months when her body stopped responding to the rules she was trying to impose. After injury, recovery, and the changes menopause brought, she said she learned something she couldn’t unlearn: some things don’t bend to effort alone.

Shania Twain menopause body image Las Vegas residency thigh injury diet exercise Katherine Heigl Gabrielle Union perimenopause