The Truth About Why Shania Twain Stopped Singing for 15 Years
While Shania Twain says her painful divorce from her ex-husband Mutt Lange in 2010 was the primary reason for her 15-year hiatus from music, she recently revealed that it wasn't the only explanation for her long musical interlude.
The country artist says she battled Lyme disease for several years after being bit by a tick in Norfolk, Virginia, according to The Sun. She spent a considerable time during her break from the music industry battling the illness, which resulted in dysphonia, a vocal cord disorder, and the loss of her voice for years.
"I lost my voice for several years and I could speak but I couldn't yell," she told The Sun. "I couldn't yell out for my dog or for my son or whatever." The disease was discovered by a neurologist after she experienced dizziness and problems with her vocal cords.
"It was devastating," she said. "I really grieved constantly over those years. [It] was all because of a tick. Lyme disease is very serious. It's a very debilitating disease, very degenerative. So I was very lucky that at all that it affected were the nerves on my vocal cords-not the vocal cords themselves."
During her battle with the disease, she continued to write songs, but she accepted that she would never probably sing them. She thought she would give them to other artists to record and perform. "It was very depressing and I was really sad about it but I still had my writing and my writing is my first love, really, over everything," she added.
Shania still suffers from the side effects of the disease, and relies on lengthy vocal warmups and physical therapy to get by, according to People. "I was very scared for a little while that I wouldn't sing again, ever," she told the magazine. "I went through that moment, but I found a way. I found a way to do it."
Now the singer is urging others to be vigilant. "[Lyme] is very dangerous because you have a very short window to catch it and then treat it and then even when you treat it, you could still very well be left with effects, which is what happened to me," she told CBC News. "You've got to check out where you are and whatever region you're in and what the rate of Lyme disease is in the region, if you're going to go out in nature-and I love nature, so that's a big bummer for me."
To reduce your risk of contracting the tick-borne illness, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends avoiding ticks by staying away from wooded areas with high grass, using insect repellent that contains DEET, and performing a tick-check as soon as your indoors.
Shania's new album, Now, is expected to be released on September 29, 2017, and is currently available for pre-order on iTunes.
(h/t Daily Mail)
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