The Lesser-Known Story Of Shania Twain's Husband Frédéric Thiébaud

For those of you who love Canadian country singer Shania Twain and her impressive repertoire of music, you might be surprised to realize how little you know about her longtime husband, Frédéric Thiébaud. He has long been by her side, and is often quietly supporting the superstar as she continues to dominate the music industry even decades after she first came on the scene.

Thiébaud and Twain are quite private about their romantic life together, but there is still a lot known about how they first met and got together, and it's a doozy of a story. The two first met in the 1990s through their previous spouses, although they didn't get romantically involved together until the late 2000s. A few years later, the couple got married, and as far as we can tell, it's been happily ever after.

Twain's Swiss husband, Thiébaud, has been with her through her break from music in the 2000s to her return in the late 2010s. He continued to support her through two more albums, three Las Vegas residencies, and a slew of awards and honors in the years since their wedding. But here's an inside look at his story, and what led Thiébaud to Twain. 

Shania Twain and Frédéric Thiébaud first crossed paths through his first wife, Marie-Anne. Twain hired the woman to be an assistant for her and her then-husband, Robert "Mutt" Lange. Over time, the two ladies became close friends. In the late 2000s, when Twain was feeling lonely and worried about her marriage as she and Lange raised their son Eja together, Marie-Anne comforted the singer and told her everything was fine with Twain's husband.

Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be true. In a personal interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2011, Twain explained how Lange surprised her when he asked for a divorce. The next day, she learned that he had allegedly been having an affair with her friend and assistant Marie-Anne. Thiébaud was also present for the interview. He recounted his side of the story, revealing that he found out that Marie-Anne was cheating on him first. He said, "I did discover the affair with my wife and Mutt in a quite concrete way." Thiébaud continued, "And I said, 'Guys, now you have to tell [Shania]. This is ridiculous. You just owe her that.' And they didn't want to do it. So I had to tell her."

According to Twain, Lange and Marie-Anne never admitted to their alleged infidelity. When she tried to speak with her former friend about the situation and get more information, Twain recalled to Oprah (via The Boot), "She changed her number and that was it." In the aftermath, Twain and Thiébaud found comfort and support in each other as they went through similar situations, which later turned into romance.

Shania Twain went through a lot of struggles as her marriage fell apart. Along with issues in the Canadian superstar's personal life, the divorce also physically affected her, with Twain slowly losing her voice. She was eventually diagnosed with dysphonia, which Johns Hopkins Medicine describes as "a change in the sound or feel of your voice due to excessive muscle tension in and around the voice box." Obviously, this halted her career and added another strain to her already stressful life at the time. But Twain's health issues were actually more serious than she thought. In the years after her divorce, doctors realized that her voice issues were actually connected to her Lyme disease diagnosis from 2003.

Thankfully, she found solace in an unlikely place, with Marie-Anne's former husband, Frédéric Thiébaud. Twain told Oprah Winfrey about how much he helped her deal with the split. She said, "The person to comfort me was Fred because he's been through the exact same thing. Fred was safe. So it was really a beautiful and perfect friendship." Over time, the friendship grew into something more. Twain admitted that it can seem a little strange for her to be involved with the ex-husband of the woman her husband allegedly left her for. She noted, "He was Marie-Anne's husband. That's twisted, if you really think about it. But just so beautifully twisted." 

As for her personal health, Twain ended up having a few throat surgeries to hopefully fix the issue. In the meantime, she and Thiébaud started dating. They got married not long after that, with a wedding in Puerto Rico at the start of 2011. Over time, her voice recovered as well. With a thriving new relationship, Twain finally got back to her singing career a few years after she married Thiébaud. 

Ever since they tied the knot, Frédéric Thiébaud has been by Shania Twain's side, supporting her and cheering her on. He often posts on Instagram about attending events like awards shows as her date, complimenting the pop star. They also travel often, such as the picturesque trip to Greece they took in August 2024. As for Thiébaud's career, he worked as a manager at Nestlé for a long time in Switzerland but has reportedly been self-employed as a managing director for many years.

Twain and Thiébaud have a blended family, with the couple raising two kids together from previous relationships. The singer shares a son named Eja with her ex-husband, Robert "Mutt" Lange, while Thiébaud has a daughter named Johanna with his ex-wife, Marie-Anne. The two kids are quite private, and not much is known about them. In a 2017 interview, Twain shared a little bit about Eja and his career. She told Entertainment Tonight that his "passion" is also music, but not in the same way, saying, "He's a writer and producer." For her 2023 album, "Queen of Me," he helped write the song "Number One."

The "You're Still the One" singer has talked a little about whether or not she is still in contact with her ex-husband or Marie-Anne. She told Oprah Winfrey in the 2011 interview, "I do see Mutt through our child, and that goes very well. It honestly does. But I do not see Marie-Anne, and I will avoid that at all costs." Thiébaud likely sees Marie-Anne for his daughter as well, although he hasn't commented on the situation. Marie-Anne and Lange are reportedly still together.