Shania Twain's shocking family secrets
AGC Queen
She shut her dad out of her life.
She left her family at 17.
She refused to visit dying grandma.
Behind the glittering success story of Shania Twain lies a tragic secret -- the
heartbroken father she left behind in her meteoric rise to the top.
"If she would just call me and say, 'I love you, Dad,' that would be priceless
to me," her shattered father Clarence Edwards told The ENQUIRER.
Clarence has never before talked to the media about the famous daughter who has
refused to see or speak to him since she was a teen.
But in a world exclusive interview, he and his wife sat down with an ENQUIRER
reporter at his summer cabin in the Canadian wilderness. He poured out his
heart -- and made these shocking charges:
Shania's mom Sharon had an affair behind his back before they divorced.
At the age of 17, Shania cut off not just him, but dozens of other Edwards
relatives, including cousins, aunts, nieces and nephews.
The sexy songbird refused to write or visit her paternal grandmother as she lay
on her deathbed, ignoring the old woman's final request to see her beloved
granddaughter one last time.
Clarence, burly and bearded, was at his cabin in the mosquito-infested woods
near Chapleau, Ont., when The ENQUIRER arrived. His wife of 27 years was
wearing a Shania Twain T-shirt.
"Shania's my daughter, and I'm very proud of her. But it breaks my heart that
she's cut me off," said Clarence.
Shania was born in 1965 to Clarence and Sharon Edwards -- who were locked in a
nightmare marriage. They divorced when Shania was 2 and in 1971 Sharon married
Jerry Twain, a full- blooded Ojibwa Indian, who adopted Shania.
"I was married to Shania's mother for seven years, and I was there with Eilleen
-- Shania's real name -- and her sister Carrie-Ann until they were 5 or 6."
declared Clarence.
"I had a very stressful job, being a railroad engineer. On top of that,
Shania's mom was a very jealous, possessive person. She didn't like me to do
normal things like go out for a beer with my friends. I had to be home all the
time. There was a lot of stress.
"I had a nervous breakdown and wound up in the hospital for a time. Shortly
after I got out, I just decided enough was enough. One day, I just left. My
wife Sharon was already with her boyfriend, Jerry Twain."
Clarence eventually found a new wife, Shirley Caby. Despite Shania's claim that
she had little to do with her father after he left home, Clarence and Shirley
say they both saw Shania and her sister Carrie-Ann a lot, taking them out for
dinner and buying them gifts.
Shania visited him for the last time when she was 15, said Clarence.
But he kept in touch with her afterward, calling his daughter from time to time
as she moved around Ontario starting her singing career, he claims.
Then suddenly their relationship came to an abrupt halt. "I called her when she
was 17, and she wouldn't even come to the phone. I just called to say, 'How are
you doing?'
"Her then-boyfriend answered the phone, and through him she told me, 'I don't
want to talk to you anymore. Stop bugging me.'
"That rejection was completely out of the blue. I guess that as she got older
she really started resenting the fact that her mom and I had split."
Shirley confided to The ENQUIRER, "Shania's father was crushed when she turned
her back on him and the rest of his family. He loves her dearly."
A relative of Clarence angrily declared, "Shania's mother Sharon poisoned her
daughter's mind against Clarence. It is an awful tragedy."
Sharon, a woman who ultimately would have five children with three different
men, had serious mental problems, sources told The ENQUIRER. She and Jerry
Twain were killed in a 1987 automobile accident.
In a stinging slap in the face, Clarence wanted to console his daughters -- but
a family member informed him he was not welcome at the funeral.
Adding to his heartbreak, says Clarence, is Shania's decision to shun dozens of
relatives on his side. "That's the part I don't like," he confided. "O.K., cut
me off. Fine. But what about all her cousins and aunts and uncles? I don't
understand it."
The singer -- known for her hits "Any Man of Mine" and "Man! I Feel Like a
Woman" -- has nothing good to say about her biological father, revealed
Clarence's relative.
"She calls Clarence a drunk and says he never helped the kids, but that's not
true. She claims that Clarence deserted his family and never supported her, but
that's a lie.
"The Twains never had any money, and Clarence always helped out. When Shania
was 15, he used to give her his credit card and say, 'Go get what you need.'
"For her first television appearance, on the 'Tommy Hunter Show,' Clarence
bought her the gown that she wore!
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FAST FACTS: Shania is a vegetarian.
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"It's time for the truth to come out -- the family's glad Clarence finally has
decided to break his silence."
Clarence wants it known that he was not compensated for his interview with The
ENQUIRER and that he has no desire at all to get his hands on his famous
daughter's money. He insists he just wants to reopen lines of communication
with Shania and her sister.
"Clarence has never even seen his grandchild -- a 3-year-old boy born to
Shania's sister Carrie-Ann -- because Carrie-Ann won't let him," divulged the
relative.
"When Shania's grandmother, Regina, was dying, she asked to see Shania. We let
Shania know but she didn't show up. She never even sent a card or flowers."
Shirley Caby added: "Regina stayed very much in touch with Shania and her
sister, writing letters and sending birthday gifts for years. But once Shania
started to get famous, she cut her grandmother off, too. She died a couple of
years ago brokenhearted."
Ironically, the singer still supports another grandmother, Jerry Twain's mom
Selina, who lives in a nursing home. "Shania pays for this. It doesn't cost me
a cent to live here," Selina revealed to The ENQUIRER.
Despite being repeatedly rebuffed by his daughter, Clarence owns her CDs and
listens to them all the time as poignant reminders of what might have been.
"I have also seen him cry as he leafs through an album of pictures and
clippings on Shania," disclosed Shirley.
Once Clarence was watching TV at a bar when he was shocked to see his daughter
on the "Oprah" show talking about her "Indian heritage." He suddenly rose from
his seat and left, disclosed a family friend.
"When he returned a few minutes later, Clarence was carrying a half-dozen
snapshots of himself with Shania. 'Let her try to deny this,' he said, and
threw them down on the counter."
In defense of her claims of "Indian heritage," Shania has said that her mother
told her that Clarence's family was part Indian. She has also said, "I don't
know how much Indian blood I actually have in me, but as the adopted daughter
of my father, Jerry, I became legally registered as 50 percent North American
Indian."
Despite Clarence's never-dying affection for Shania, the gulf between father
and daughter runs deep.
David Hartt, keyboard player with a band Shania fronted when she was just 15,
told The ENQUIRER, "She had a lot of hard feelings toward Clarence Edwards even
then. She told me, 'He never helped us out when we needed him and I don't need
him now.' "
A crushed Clarence concluded:
"I don't think Shania will ever call.
"The hope is there, but I don't think she will."
-- JIM NELSON, JOHN BLOSSER and SHERRY CREMONA
Send email to: PUSSS...@aol.com
JosieCat
The
ENQUIRER and that he has no desire at all to get his hands on his famous
daughter's money. He insists he just wants to reopen lines of communication
with Shania and her sister. >>>
And he thinks an interview with a tabloid where he basically describes Shania
as a bitch will help? I'm no fan of Shania but this man sounds like an idiot.
twai...@gmail.com
Miloch
twai...@gmail.com says...
>
>I am a Twain my name is Mark Twain and I was born to Suzanne Twain in the 1=
>970s shortly after that my mother went missing and we know that Jerry Twain=
> had something to do with it they called it Indian business so I hope her f=
>amily realises the blood relations come first not an adopted outsider like=
> shania.
>
Whose idea was it to post your important missive in a newsgroup that no one
reads?
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