Shania Twain, 58, didn’t hold back when speaking out about menopause the physical changes that come with it. And she had some inspiring words for women everywhere about the experience. “I think menopause was a very good thing for me because there were a lot more things changing in everything about me physically that I had to very quickly come to terms with,” she told the New York Post in an interview published by the outlet on Wednesday, Sept. 13. “Menopause taught me to quickly say, ‘You know, it may only get worse. So just love yourself now. Just get over your insecurities—they’re standing in your way. And fear is standing in your way.'”
And despite her constant message of being “fearless,” the iconic hitmaker admitted she struggled to do just that. “I always sing about being fearless and all of that,” she continued. “I go there when I write. But I’m not living it the way I’m writing it. And I want to live the way I write. I’m more fierce than I ever was because I really demanded it about myself.”
As for the racy art for the “Queen of Me,” album cover, in which she bares it all, the country songstress admitted she’s become confident in her mature years. “Well, I’m the opposite from being an exhibitionist,” she told the outlet. “But I like to feel sexy, and I like to enjoy my body more now than ever. I used to hate my body. So when my body was young and, I guess, maybe one wouldn’t be afraid of exhibiting it, I was hiding it a lot.”
She went on, confessing that she knew she had to be “brave” going into the photo shoot. “I think I needed to capture where I am right now, because it’s a moment that I want to remember,” she explained. “So I just had to be brave about it, to own it. And I felt really good that I felt like, ‘Yeah, I’m OK with that.’ I need to be able to look at myself in the mirror every day. I’m perfectly the way I should be. This is the way I should be at my age. I’m fine with it. And I’m not afraid of it anymore. It’s all good.”