Shania Twain Is ‘Sad’ For Her Cheating Ex-Husband

Shania Twain is ready to take the high road when it comes to her ex-husband, who infamously cheated on her with her best friend back in 2008. God, she’s brave. During a Tuesday podcast episode of Great Company With Jamie Laing, the Canadian singer revisited one of the most painful times of her life, when she discovered her husband of 15 years — South African rock producer Robert John Lange, a.k.a. “Mutt” — had been having an affair with her close “confidante” Marie-Anne Thiébaud. The couple had initially hired Thiébaud in the ’90s to manage their Switzerland château, though Thiébaud ultimately got up to a lot more than managing just the wintry chalet.

“Forgiveness is in the family of letting go,” Twain said on the podcast. “But forgiveness, more specifically for me, anyway, is not about forgetting necessarily.”

In the wake of the tryst, Twain and Mutt separated in 2008 and divorced two years later. But it wasn’t until 2015 that the singer revealed the betrayal that had torn apart her marriage in a New York Post interview. At the time, Twain said she had no ongoing relationship or contact with her former friend, refusing to “invite that trigger into my life.” Now that is some clear boundary setting. Aspirational, really.

“Do I hate my ex-husband for making a mistake? No. It’s his mistake, not my mistake,” she continued on the podcast this week. “So sad for him that he made such a great mistake that he has to live with … That’s not my weight.”

The five-time Grammy-award winner does not mince words, apparently. Besides, Twain did get a happy ending out of the whole debacle: In an iconic instance of husband swapping, the country artist fell in love with Frédéric Thiébaud, Marie-Anne’s former husband. They’ve been married since 2011 and are still going strong. You go, lovebirds. Show ’em who’s happy now.