Country star Shania Twain has spoken candidly to People magazine about the hardships that shaped her, from an impoverished childhood in rural Canada to the sudden death of her mother and stepfather when she was 22. She explained that having to grow up quickly, caring for her siblings and supporting her depressed mother, taught her to be brave rather than "crumble", a resilience she later relied on through a public divorce and a serious battle with Lyme disease. Twain says this outlook, summed up in her phrase "fear fuels me", continues to define how she copes with adversity.

Twain recalled making "ketchup sandwiches" from leftovers as a child and effectively acting as a parent to her younger siblings while her mother struggled to cope. These experiences feature on her new album, Little Miss Twain, released earlier this month, which she says she can now look back on "with a smile". The title track references country singer Tanya Tucker, whom Twain's mother had held up as an example of the child stardom she believed Twain could achieve, though Twain notes she only found success as an adult, after her mother's death.