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Shania Twain's life the perfect Lifetime movie in the making

By April MacIntyre May 2, 2011, 18:01 GMT

03/27/2011 - Shania Twain - 2011 Juno Awards - Press Room - Air Canada Centre - Toronto, Canada © Robin Wong / PR Photos

Shania Twain's life was so hardscrabble and painful, it was a blessing that she was given the gifts of beauty and talent so the events that happened to her were less of a curse.    

Parade.com spoke to Shania, whose path in her life resembles a Lifetime movie in the making.

In Shania Twain’s revealing new memoir, From This Moment On, the country singer takes readers through the events that have made her who she is.

Twain opens up about the impact of her mother and stepfather's abusive marriage, the devastation of her husband, rock producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange's affair and much more.

On the devastating discovery, in March 2008, that her husband of 14 years was having an affair with her friend and confidante, Marie-Anne...

Twain describes it as "the most shocking and painful truth of my life since the death of my parents twenty years earlier....For the first week after finding out about the affair, I was ready to die--to go to bed forever and never wake up. Or to hurt someone. I was ready to do something desperate, but in reality, there was nothing to do but to suffer through it. Fortunately, when you're a mom, the responsibility of caring for your child can keep you going.

"Denial can have multiple layers, and rationalizing is common when you're trying to absorb something you just don't want to believe. I thought: Okay, so  maybe they made a mistake. My husband and my friend will come to their senses and realize that. I was ready to forgive, and forget, make things right , move on, and get on with our lives. Not like nothing had happened, but like something had happened that I thought was fixable. But his was not to be.

"Despite everything, I still loved my husband. And I still loved my friend. I put myself in their shoes with the understanding that accidents happen, we're all human, and we all make mistakes....Eventually, I came to the point of accepting the end of my marriage."

Twain also describes the intense domestic violence and spousal abuse she witnessed as a child. In the book, she recalls one particular fight between her stepfather and mother...

"My mother was a featherweight and so easy to push around. Jerry had her on the bathroom floor by the toilet, and, grabbing her hair, he slammed her head against the side of the basin, knocking her out cold. I could see Jerry repeatedly plunge my mother's head into the toilet bowl, then pull it out again. I remember wondering, 'Why is he trying to drown her when she's already dead?' I wanted to scream, 'Stop, you already killed her!' I wanted to stop him, but I was too afraid...The enormity of that helplessness transferred to me, and I felt as limp as she was."