Shania Twain has said she is “in a good place” with her ex husband, songwriter and producer Robert “Mutt” Lange.
The Canadian superstar split from Lange in 2008 after 14 years of marriage. She later accused him of having had an affair with her friend and assistant Marie-Anne Thiébaud (both Lange and Thiébaud have denied an affair).
“I found peace a long time ago, and maybe peace is forgiveness, you know?" Twain told People for its new cover story. “I'm able to have more appreciation for him again, not for what happened in our marriage but for all that he contributed to such a great part of my career and my life. We have a beautiful child from it. The resentment is gone.”
Lange produced Twain’s albums The Woman in Me, Come on Over and Up! and co-wrote some of her biggest hits, including “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and “Man! I Feel Like a Woman.” They also share son Eja, now 21.
Twain said she still uses Lange’s recording studio. “That’s kind of our crossroads area., which is really appropriate,” she explained. “It feels really good to say that. We share engineers, and so we have this music creative zone that we all go to on our own time.”
Following her split from Lange, Twain found love with Thiébaud’s husband Frédéric Thiébaud. They tied the knot on New Year’s Day 2011 in Puerto Rico.
“That is a really strong bond that builds over time, that is rare, that you don't have in every relationship if you don't have those deep scars in common,” Twain said. “We were a big part of each other's healing.”
Twain said Thiébaud "likes the fact that I'm strong" so she takes it as a compliment when he tells her she's "a lot of woman.” She described her husband as “one of my biggest supporters” and “a lot of the brains behind so much of the work that I’m doing now.”
But, the singer bristles when people suggest her success comes from the men in her life.
“It was very offensive to be considered a molded artist, that it took a man or a team to mold me,” she recalled. “I bit my tongue a lot. But when you're in the industry from a young age as a woman, you really learn how to let it roll off your back.”
Twain’s new album Queen of Me is due out on Feb. 3, followed by a tour that includes many shows in her native Canada.
“It's like a renaissance period for me. To be experiencing it as a relevant artist still, that's rewarding," she told People. "I feel a renewed confidence. I don't have anything to prove anymore, and I feel freedom in that.
“All these years later, I'm still here, almost in a bigger way and I'm embracing it.”