Shania Twain remembers difficult childhood, singing in bars at 8 years old: 'I developed a little broken'

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Shania Twain feels she "developed a little broken" after her difficult childhood.

The singer appeared on "The Drew Barrymore Show," where both stars bonded over the pressure they felt as children to support their families and parent themselves or, in the case of Twain, others at a young age.

"I developed a little broken, I think," Twain told Barrymore, recalling drunk adults "falling all over" her at while being in nightclubs at age 8 and "just being put in situations that were very unnatural." 

"I loved what I was doing, I mean, I loved music, so I was torn," she continued. "I had this passion for music and I thought, ‘Well, I guess this is, if you have a passion for music, this is the way you do it.’"

Shania Twain told Drew Barrymore that she feels she "developed a little broken" from her rocky childhood. (Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

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Twain got her start as a musician singing in bars as a child, and money she earned was put toward support her family, including four siblings and her mother and stepfather.

"I think certain personalities are not as capable of coping with it. I feel lucky that I was so resilient, but I paid a price for it," Twain told Barrymore.

"Children are prisoners of the adult environment. And that’s how I felt," she added.

Barrymore reflected on becoming emancipated at 14 and getting her own apartment, telling Twain, "My biggest thing that I would like to put to bed finally is to stop being angry and disappointed and so critical of the way I parented myself. But I had no other choice, because I had to."

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Twain reassured her that it’s an "unfair burden put on the child. That’s not right. Children shouldn’t be burdened with that, like the way you’re talking right now." 

Speaking to her own experience, Twain continued, "I don’t blame myself. I was a terrible parent at 10. I mean, of course I was a terrible parent at 10! I must have been the worst parent at 10. How do you get the kids in the bath, wash their clothes by hand, make sure they’re dry by morning, get them on the bus, feed them — of course I didn’t do it well. I sucked at it. I was a terrible parent."

Twain, who referred to her siblings as her kids in the interview, had to take full legal responsibility for them when she was 22 after their parents died in a car accident. 

Twain said she was a "terrible parent at 10" but that it was logical, as she was only a child helping with younger siblings. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

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"That was a different type of parenting because now there was nobody to blame because now they’re gone," the 58-year-old said. "All of a sudden I’m responsible for making decisions about my parents’ mortgage. I didn’t know they had a mortgage, I didn’t know what it was, I didn’t know anything about how they ran their business or debts or insurance. I had to learn overnight. My parents died — three days later I’m in lawyer’s offices and insurance company offices."

That pressure at a young age has inspired Twain to keep taking chances as an adult.

Twain is thankful for her resilient personality when looking back on her difficult childhood. (Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images)

"But that’s why it’s so good to plunge now in my life because you don’t always know what’s on the other side of the cliff. You don’t always know how deep the water is when you jump in. Whatever happens to you, you will get to the other side and when you open your eyes, you’re like, ‘wow, I achieved something,’" she said.  

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"I actually went through a fear threshold, I passed a fear threshold. It doesn’t even matter that you get on the other side, it’s more of the fact that you succeeded at taking the leap."