Shania Twain celebrates the benefit of forgiveness on Six-Minute Marathon

In many ways, Shania Twain has packed several lifetimes into her 53 years. She achieved career milestones through her reign atop the country and mainstream pop charts in the 90s. They are milestones that seem only the stuff of dreams for many burgeoning young female talents today. While Shania Twain has no problem with allowing herself to savor the fruits of her hard work, with several spots to call home, comfortable studios, and being able to be the wife, mother, an artist she chooses without the worry she once had over survival, the superstar most treasures the gifts that money can't buy.

Sometimes, it only takes a minute to discover the core truths about a person. On the January 16 segment of “Six-Minute Marathon,” “Today” anchor, Savannah Guthrie, had Shania Twain in the hot seat, but no one would know it. The multiplatinum-selling singer-songwriter looked as relaxed as ever, wearing an oversized baby blue knit sweater and a brown plaid skirt with leggings. The mood was like a girlfriend chat before the countdown clock ever began, and Twain’s honest truths were genuine and surprising.

Forgiveness means freedom

The first question on the clock to Shania was what gave her the perfect day, and in seconds, “family, animals, music,” came her response. The next question was “What is your biggest accomplishment?” After a brief pause of contemplation, the songwriter replied, “forgiveness.” While the ladies joked about having a lot of people should forgive, Shania Twain, Has lived out life lessons in forgiveness that few women would want to emulate.

Many of the songs on her 2017 album, “Now,” chronicle her deeply personal journey of healing and forgiveness after the dissolution of her marriage to producer, Robert “Mutt” Lange, who became involved with her best friend, and finding love and trust again with her current husband, Frederic Thiebaud, the spurned ex-husband in the affair.

“It gives you freedom,” Shania Twain assures of forgiveness, and themes of freedom resonate through her recent music. Themes of her reclaimed freedom resonate through songs like “Life's About To Get Good” and the overcoming anthem “I'm Alright.”

More than any honors of career recognition, Shania affirms that achieving forgiveness “is a worthy goal.”

Superstar shyness

Despite her being one of the brightest stars in the Country Music constellation, Shania Twain confessed that her own shyness makes being with other celebrity notables “uncomfortable.”

She made Brad Pitt a point of comparison in her hit "That Don’t Impress Me Much,” but she's never been clamoring to meet the actor.

“I know it would be awkward,” insists Shania.

She recalls meeting Madonna [VIDEO], but not completely in a good way. “I always feel like I'm invading their space,” says Twain of celebrity encounters. Having that shyness and sense of perspective lends to her strong empathy for her own fans during the meet and greet events and her easy manner of getting at their level.

“Dreaming is wonderful, that hard work is everything,” reminds Shania Twain. Her singing career started at just nine years old when her mother would bring her to local spots around Timmins, Ontario. She grew accustomed to wilderness conditions when working with her stepfather in reforestation and lumber projects near Ontario as a young teenager, thriving on the solitude and self-reliance of the period.

After her parents were killed in a car accident in 1987, Shania supported herself and her siblings by performing at the Deerhurst Resort.

Her resilience and positivity are qualities that inspire every Shania Twain fan, but every so often, she likes to be asked, “Are you okay?” by someone who really means it, and cares about her answer. Writing music is her greatest outlet to unplug and escape the demands of life, and she relishes her memories of seeing the Rolling Stones in Cuba. A romp home at home with her dogs fills the spirit of the star who dreamed of being a veterinarian or an architect if music hadn't become her destiny.

Shania Twain was sending Twitter messages about sightseeing in Abu Dhabi today. There is an abundance of impressive architecture there, but not so many sweet puppies.