Shania Twain Reveals Painful Inspiration Behind ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman!’

In an interview with The Times, Shania Twain shares the tragic origins of her song, “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” Twain disclosed that her mother’s second husband sexually assaulted her, in addition to physically abusing her mother. The country star shared how that experience affected her as a woman and how she processed her pain through music. “That song was me saying I have waited too long to feel good about being a woman,” Twain said about her hit single from 1997’s Come On Over. “For many years I shied away from it or wished I wasn’t a woman. I was a shy, insecure female. But then I became tired of acting like I’m not a female with curves, so I wrote ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman!’ I guess I was a late bloomer in getting comfortable in my own skin, but after a while you just have to stop picking away at the things you can’t change.” (People)