Shania Twain says it was “really scary” and “empowering” to appear naked in front of a camera for her latest album cover.
The 57-year-old country star spoke with Hoda Kotb for the make space podcast, as well as for some segments of TODAY Monday. In their multiple conversations, Twain shared how she chose to go bold and naked to celebrate her new music in queen of me.
“I did an entire shoot as part of the album cover where I’m completely naked and it was really scary. But it was kind of like, I don’t really like my body, I don’t don’t like looking at myself in the mirror with the lights on or looking at my body in the mirror. So I said, ‘Listen, I’m going to face this fear,'” she told Kotb.
The singer explained that it was “a real leap of faith” and a test of her own courage to do so.
“If I look at myself head to toe in the mirror, I see my flaws…I’m just tired of this lack of freedom. I want to be more relaxed and comfortable in my own skin,” she said . “When you’re naked, now you rely entirely on your own self-love and self-respect.”
Twain said she was “petrified” heading into the shoot, but left with more confidence.
“I was 100% committed and I didn’t think what anyone was thinking, I didn’t think who was in the room. This is about me, this is my time to really kiss in a vulnerable moment. It must have been vulnerable where I felt like I was dealing with the fear of being judged or maybe even being laughed at, of being embarrassed. But it was just empowering.” she said, “it was really fabulous.”
It also allowed her to claim a new perspective on her body as she got older.
“[I] cannot slow down the aging process. It’s out of my control, so I have to start enjoying aging and everything that goes with it,” she told Kotb and Hager on air, adding on the podcast, “I’m only going to become flaccid, isn’t it?
She also confirmed that the plastic surgery route was not the one she was planning to take.
“I’ve gotten to a point where no, I’m not going to. And maybe that’s part of what made me go, okay, it’s time to start loving each other in his skin because for sure I have a lot of friends who have had very successful surgeries but I have also seen others who were not so successful And then I think well and if I I’m one of those people who doesn’t heal very well, so I’m gonna hate that about me. And then I’m gonna regret doing it,” Twain told Kotb. “So it’s my perception of things that needs to change, it’s my way of seeing things that needs to change instead of changing who I am and what I look like.”
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