What kind of country song do you get when you marry the ex-husband of the woman that your own ex-husband cheated on you with? Well, if anyone knows the answer to that particular riddle, it's country star Shania Twain. Mostly because … that's exactly what she's done.
Back in 2008, the country world was rocked by the news that Shania's then-husband, Robert Lange, was cheating on her. Not only was he cheating, he was cheating with his secretary, who was married, and whom Shania also considered a close friend. Confused yet? It gets better!
At the time, Robert called their split "an unfortunate thing" and said, "It’s literally just a growing apart, that’s all."
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Not so fast, Rob! The reality of the situation is that Robert and his secretary, Marie-Anne Thiébaud, were engaged in an affair. Shania's pain over the revelation was compounded by the fact that she and Robert have a child together, Eja D’Angelo, who was 6 at the time.
Shania and Robert "Mutt" Lange were married for over a decade. They met at Nashville's Fan Fair in 1993 after Mutt heard a few of her songs and wanted to be introduced — he then offered to produce her next album and to write more songs for her as well.
Shania and Mutt got married on December 28, 1993, and their son was born in 2001. It is assumed that many of Shania's most famous songs are about their relationship, as they were definitely written during the time period the couple was together.
The couple announced they were separating in May 2008, and they were divorced by June 2010. It's unclear if Mutt and Marie-Anne Thiébaud are still together, but Shania and Marie-Anne's ex-husband, Frédéric Thiébaud, got engaged in 2009.
At the time of their split, Shania was devastated. She told Andy Cohen that she ran into Marie-Anne while filming Watch What Happens Live and that "I had a total panic attack. I just told her that she was a bad person — that’s all I could get out!"
Shania and Frédéric connected while they were both reeling from the sudden ending of their marriages. Shania told Ellen DeGeneres, "It was a very difficult time emotionally for both of us. I would say that he was probably stronger through it than I was."
She also told Ellen, "He was a tremendous support; we were a support to each other and really found something beautiful in the end and unexpected."
While Shania's manager didn't confirm her engagement until 2010, the pair were spotted wearing rings in 2009. They got married on January 1, 2011, in Puerto Rico.
Shania has shared that she and her ex-husband co-parent their son, but that she doesn't have a relationship with Marie-Anne. "I don’t invite that trigger into my life. … She’s not my future. She’s my past."
Shania has also said that when it comes to rebuilding your life after learning devastating news, "Survival is everything. I was in quicksand. I panicked, like everybody does, but I didn’t surrender. I found a way out."
"Sometimes I get overwhelmed coping with things, but experience also teaches you how to manage. When you get older, you have so much experience at falling and getting up. You’re not going to stop falling. But you will get better at getting up and brushing yourself off. I believe that. I’ve lived it."
"I’m more comfortable with my body now than I was when I was younger,” says Twain. “It was really a struggle back then. But with age, you ask, ‘OK, how many more years do I have to live, and do I really want to live them feeling negative about myself and the things I can’t change?'"
