Celebrity relationships are the backbone of entertainment media, and people love to latch on to their favorite couples. It's a cultural pastime of sorts. And when the romance is full of juicy twists, turns and betrayal? You know that's the good stuff.
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00:00It's safe to say that country music sensation Shania Twain's love story is anything but
00:05generic. It's a story that involves all the ups and downs of a cinematic masterpiece.
00:10Here's a look inside the marriage of one of country music's all-time biggest stars.
00:16Twain, like so many celebrities before her who reached mega-fame,
00:20craved time away from the spotlight. As she explained on The Ellen DeGeneres Show,
00:24I just really needed to take a break. Switzerland was just a place that I could go and be very
00:29quiet, and I became a mom, and it was just a great place to start that part of my life."
00:35It was there that Twain met Frederick and Marianne Thiebaud. On Oprah, Frederick dished,
00:40My ex-wife started to work for them, and that's how we got to know them."
00:44Marianne was Twain's assistant and managed Shania and her then-husband Robert Mutt-Lange's
00:4946-room chateau in Switzerland, according to the Belfast Telegraph. Twain told DeGeneres,
00:55Fred and I did not have a one-on-one relationship at all. It was quite a formal relationship,
01:01really. The families grew close and generally spent holidays together. As the singer explained
01:07on Oprah, Fred and Mutt were good friends, and Marianne and I were good friends. She was my
01:12confidant, somebody who understood what my concerns were in my marriage. Twain added that she always
01:18trusted Marianne's judgments, saying,
01:20I said,
01:21"'Marianne, don't you think my husband is acting strange?' And she said,
01:25"'No, I don't see anything strange.'"
01:27When Thiebaud discovered his wife Marianne was having an affair with Twain's husband Mutt,
01:32he told Twain,
01:33And spoiler alert, it didn't go well. As Frederick revealed on Oprah,
01:38I did discover the affair with my wife and Mutt. And I said,
01:41"'Guys, now you have to tell Shania. This is ridiculous. You just owe her that.' And
01:46they didn't want to do it. So I had to tell her."
01:50Then Frederick found phone bills and hotel receipts and recalled seeing lingerie and
01:54a garter belt in Marianne's suitcase from one of her solo trips, according to the Daily Mail.
01:59Twain admitted to being in denial and wanted an explanation from Mutt and Marianne.
02:04She told DeGeneres,
02:06I called her up. I wanted to give her the opportunity to tell me herself without me
02:10accusing her. And she said,
02:12"'No, I don't understand why you'd think I would ever hide anything from you.'"
02:16Mutt and Marianne denied having an affair. After Marianne ignored Twain's calls
02:21and changed her phone number, Twain emailed her, saying,
02:25"'Please leave us in peace. If you could see me crying and suffering, maybe you would have pity.
02:30Find love somewhere else, from someone else that isn't hurting two families so much.'"
02:36Twain's story proves fame and wealth don't protect against adversity.
02:41Specifically, the double whammy of discovering your hubby and your BFF are off in cahoots
02:45without you? A bummer, to say the least. She explained to Oprah,
02:49Suffering does not discriminate. No one is above this type of low.
02:54A broken Twain explained she'd basically given up on life, adding,
02:58There were days when I really just was like, I just don't even really care if tomorrow comes."
03:03In addition to the nightmare she found herself in,
03:06Twain noticed her anxiety negatively impacted her Lyme disease.
03:10She told the Belfast Telegraph,
03:12I lost my voice from Lyme disease. The stress of the divorce added to the dysphonia,
03:17which is a tension around the larynx. The divorce is part of it, but it wasn't the root of it."
03:22Twain was forced to undergo multiple throat surgeries,
03:25and feared that she'd lose the vocal cords that built her career. She told Today,
03:30It was devastating. I was very, very sad about it,
03:34to the point where I felt I had no other choice but to just accept it."
03:38The invasive surgery did affect Twain's voice, but birthed a new
03:42gravel tone that she's enthusiastic about. She said,
03:45I think it's kind of sexy. I'm never going to have my old voice again.
03:49I'm okay with that. I found a new voice, and I like it."
03:53New love can be the furthest thing from your mind while dealing with severe heartbreak.
03:57But as Twain gushed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show,
04:00an unexpected love blossomed out of a strenuous shared experience. She explained,
04:06We slowly became very, very good friends. We had many months of just trying to make
04:10sense of everything. Holding each other up was a very difficult time emotionally for both of us,
04:16and really found something very beautiful in the end, and unexpected."
04:20Inspired by Thibaut's calm composure, the Canadian country singer said she gradually
04:25began to see him in a new light. She told Redbook,
04:29You see all their anger, how they handle their grief,
04:32their desperation. And he did it beautifully and was able to give me support at the same time.
04:37I admired him first. I think that's very important."
04:42Of course, every woman has a laundry list of qualities she looks for in a life mate.
04:46In addition, sharing a life with someone who you can learn from and who inspires you to be
04:51a better person also falls somewhere on the list under Swiss Banking Account.
04:55Luckily for Twain, Thibaut had all the above.
04:58Swiss-born Frederick Thibaut is an executive for the food and beverage company Nestle.
05:03Born on August 1, 1970, Thibaut is five years younger than Twain. It's reported that Thibaut
05:09even fell in love with music as a kid and had aspirations of becoming a singer,
05:14according to Country Daily. While Brad Pitt may not impress Twain much,
05:19she knows the moment she realized she'd fallen for Thibaut. She dished to Redbook,
05:24"'I got to observe Fred going through the same thing I was, and I admired how he handled it.
05:29That is where I fell in love with him, because he was so exemplary in every way.'"
05:34Twain even credits Thibaut for being her, quote,
05:37"'count to ten.' She explained,
05:39"'Fred has shown me through example how to stop, listen, think, and then express myself,
05:45instead of immediately saying things I might wind up regretting.
05:48Trust me, that's hard for a girl who grew up cursing hockey refs.'"
05:53Twain made her relationship official on her 44th birthday on August 29, 2009, on her website.
06:00She wrote,
06:01"'A dear friend and true gentleman by the name of Fred has been the most constant
06:05companion of support for both Asia and me, and having gone through the suffering of his family
06:10splitting apart at the same time under the same extreme circumstances, he understood me better
06:16than anyone. We leaned on one another through the ups and downs, taking turns holding each other up."
06:22We've become stronger and closer through it all, as have our children, Asia and Johanna.
06:28According to People magazine, Thibaut finally proposed the following year with a three-carat
06:33solitaire diamond ring. On Oprah, Twain's beau said,
06:37"'She's a true angel. That's what I think.'"
06:40On January 1, 2011, the pair married in Puerto Rico in an intimate ceremony.
06:46Twain proudly told People,
06:47"'My closest friends and family say they haven't seen me this free-spirited and happy in years.
06:53And it's true. It's definitely true.'"
06:56In this love story, Twain and Thibaut prove the honeymoon phase never has to end.
07:01Twain gave fans a glimpse into her fairy tale relationship when she spoke about
07:05Thibaut's romantic gestures to Redbook. She revealed,
07:08"'The other day I was showering and he had to go out. He knew I hadn't eaten yet,
07:12and I had to go somewhere too. So before he left, he prepared me a salad.
07:17I could hear chopping and singing and I'm thinking, what is he doing? I came out of
07:21the bathroom and he'd set up a little table with a note saying, I love you, Fred. And there was
07:27a glass of wine and this beautiful salad with little tomatoes and flowers all around the edges."
07:32Prince Charming himself confessed the inspiration behind his romantic behavior, saying,
07:37"'To express my love? Words are not enough. I'm more in love with her every day.'"
07:43Chocolates and flowers aside, Twain went on to tell Redbook about what drew her to him.
07:48She explained,
07:49"'Fred is not only nice, he's incredible. He's attentive, he shows what he feels,
07:54and that's a quality that could come in any shape or size and be admired.
07:58He's too good to be true. I'm loving every minute of it.'"
08:03The Canadian country singer may be one of the world's biggest stars,
08:06but behind closed doors, Twain is just like anyone else when it comes to enjoying
08:11romantic pastimes with her spouse. She told Redbook,
08:14"'Kissing, talking, playing tennis. Fred hits hard and keeps me on my toes.
08:19I'd chase a ball for him any day.'"
08:21And let's be honest, famous or not, no couple escapes cheesy nicknames. The country singer
08:27admitted,
08:28"'We stare at each other a lot and call each other lovey names. I'm Sunshie,
08:32short for Sunshine, and he's Beauty Man because he's so darn beautiful.'"
08:37Undoubtedly handsome, Twain said her hubby's eyes are his best physical feature.
08:41She added,
08:42"'They're gentle, intelligent, and alluring, and such a beautiful shade of green.
08:47Fred's and Asia's eyes are exactly the same shade.'"
08:51The songstress noted that Tebow's compassion for others is what she loves most about her husband.
08:56She explained,
08:58"'Fred is a true gentleman. He waits for everyone else to begin eating before taking a bite.
09:03He's always concerned about world affairs and the interests of others.'"
09:07From chart-topping success and starting a family to losing it all and coming back
09:12stronger than ever, Twain has come full circle. Reflecting on her experience on Oprah,
09:18the artist revealed that she believes life has a way of working out the way it's supposed to.
09:23She said,
09:23"'Sometimes I think bad things have to happen to us to give us perspective.'"
09:28The Honey I'm Home singer elaborated further during an interview with the Belfast Telegraph,
09:33explaining,
09:34"'I had to meet this horrible, betraying friend in order to meet this extraordinary man.
09:39And I had to meet Mutt to have this child, who is the absolute center of my life.'"
09:44Twain revealed that over time, she was able to fully process and understand
09:48the collapse of her marriage with Lange. She told Oprah,
09:51"'The fact that the marriage broke down is nobody's fault.
09:54That is just a mutual breakdown of communication between two people.'"
09:58And even though Twain admitted to being partially responsible for the fallout of her marriage,
10:03she's grateful for the emotional evolution and strength it gave her.
10:07She told the Belfast Telegraph,
10:09"'I never thought it was entirely my fault,
10:11but I certainly felt that I obviously missed something. Where have I been? Hello? How dumb
10:17can one be? I just felt very stupid. You put things in perspective over time.'"
10:23Amidst new love and re-strengthened vocal cords,
10:26Twain set her sights on resurrecting her singing career.
10:29But it wasn't as if she could just pick up from where she left off.
10:33She told the Belfast Telegraph,
10:34"'There were three albums and 15 years of our collaboration. So the fear was,
10:39not knowing where to begin after all that time,
10:42and knowing that the expectations would be high, because Mutt is a genius.'"
10:46Twain revealed her doubts pioneering a new path, adding,
10:50"'There were a lot of moments when I was just too afraid to tackle it.
10:53Maybe I should just leave it where it was.'"
10:56Ultimately, Twain decided her new material had to come from the heart,
10:59which produced a darker tone, both vocally and lyrically.
11:03"'Who's Gonna Be Your Girl?' are lyrics expressing the dark and lonely crumbling
11:08of Twain's marriage. The singer explained to Rolling Stone,
11:11"'It's about feeling unappreciated and knowing that you are secondary,
11:15having to live with someone that has different priorities and accepting that you're not the
11:19most important thing in a person's life.'" Yikes! Meanwhile,
11:24"'Swinging With My Eyes Closed' is a pretty self-explanatory track,
11:28yet heart-wrenching, everything considered."
11:30On September 29, 2017, Twain released her fifth studio album,
11:36Now, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.