'This is the love I'm going to grow old with' - Shania Twain on the secret to her happy marriage

Shania Twain has been married to Frédéric Thiébaud since 2011 and, 15 years on, he’s definitely still the one.

"This is the love I’m going to grow old with and it’s a beautiful feeling", the Man! I Feel Like a Woman icon revealed in a new interview.

She also revealed the secret behind their everlasting romance - communication. "He’s really good at reminding both of us that we have to keep communication open. He’s the greatest talker, and he’s not inhibited at all with expressing his feelings, which is really wonderful in a man."

Speaking to People, she added, "If you have a man that is really open and wants to keep the communication open, you’re blessed as a woman."

On the occasion when there is an issue between them, Shania praises Frédéric’s openness as a contrast to her natural inclination to go more inwards on the matter. She shared that she’d sometimes prefer "meditate over the issue, take a walk or be alone with my guitar if I’m having a marital issue… Fred wants to talk about it.

"He wants to talk it through, and he wants to fix it. And that’s the best advice. I mean, he’s not wrong."

Shania and her husband’s romance dates back to 2009, but their bond started before that. The music superstar has spoken candidly of how the pair met in quite the unconventional way - Shania’s first husband, Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange reportedly had an affair with Frédéric’s former wife, Marie-Anne - who was a close friend and former assistant to Shania.

In an interview from 2022, Shania opened up on how the pair’s shared experience initially helped them to heal - before the romance blossomed. She told People, "We were a big part of each other’s healing.

"When I got divorced I said, ‘I’m never getting married again.’ I was definitely one of those people that could have written a million songs about, ‘I’m never going to fall in love again.’ But Fred was such an undeniable love."

And as for her ex - with whom she shares her son, Eja - Shania has found a form of forgiveness. "I’m able to have more appreciation for him again, not for what happened in our marriage but for all that he contributed to such a great part of my career and my life.

"We have a beautiful child from it. The resentment is gone."

After experiencing the shared devastation of alleged infidelity, Shania and Frédéric would find a new beginning together. Shania believes, though, that she was always destined to end up with her husband.

"I’m sure we’ll always have romance, but there’s a depth and a gratitude that I have about having this love. And if I [had] met Fred as a teenager, I do believe that he would have been my lifelong love even from then.

"It just takes sometimes years to find that person."