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RD: And you didn't say, "If you're not going to eat that, I'll take it"?Twain: This is why it's so important to me to help hungry kids, because kids don't have the courage. They'd rather starve than go through the humiliation of admitting they're starving.
RD: All through this period you had to be a mother to your mother, who suffered from depression, right?
Twain: Yes. My oldest sister left home quite young, and I was my mother's friend. I got her through a lot of things. It was my music. She thought there was hope for us because I sang. She couldn't have known. She just had to cling to something. Maybe that's what gave me my strength. But I resented the pressure of being her savior.
RD: She actually used to push you to perform. She'd wake you up at midnight to go sing in local clubs.
Twain: Yes. I remember one time my mother snuck me out through the back window and took me to sing somewhere. My father had said, "No, you can't. We don't have the gas money." When we got back, I got in big trouble.
RD: How did things turn around for you and your family?
Twain: My mother was very depressed at the time -- she wasn't getting out of bed. I decided that I had to convince her to take us to Toronto, where they have a lot of good programs for desperate families. Where we were living in these small towns, they didn't have anything. I was 13 then and told my mother to get in the car the next day when my dad was gone. I said, "All you've got to do is drive." I don't know why she listened to me. I think she was numb. We drove to Toronto and went to a shelter. We finally got fed every day.
RD: Then what happened?
Twain: My father was furious and couldn't find us for a long time. I told my mother, "Don't tell him where we are." I was just so desperate not to go back to what we were in. In Toronto, I got a singing job and my mother got a cooking job in the same club, and on weekends I did sales phone work for the club. We left the shelter eventually and got into special housing.
RD: Do you think your drive comes from growing up poor?
Twain: I was the type that would have worked two or three jobs to make it. There's no way I was ever going to be poor again. I remember when I was 18 and was cleaning my vocal coach's house in trade for lessons. He'd feed me once in a while too. From up in his studio I would look down on the corner outside his house where the taxis used to pick up and drop off the hookers. I thought, These girls are probably going home with something in their pocket at least. I would never have gone that far, but I can relate to people who have to struggle to get by.
RD: Are you in touch with your biological father?
Twain: He [once] reached out, but we just weren't ready. So we never really opened that door.
RD: You practice the Sant Mat religion, which, according to what I've read, calls for vegetarianism and daily meditation, strict avoidance of premarital sex, alcohol and drugs. What appealed to you about Sant Mat?
Twain: The basic principles are no different from anything that respects the Ten Commandments. Good principles about living a healthy, positive life. When I was a teenager, I was practicing Christianity very strongly, and then I went through different phases as to what I believed in. But I was always in search of self-improvement. That's what Sant Mat does for me. It helps me reflect.
RD: Now that you are older and a mom, do you still practice as strictly?
Twain: Oh, definitely. My husband was already practicing when I met him. I'm still a long way from being the person I want to be. I think it takes many, many lives to get where you need to be spiritually. I believe very much in destiny.
RD: What do you think your life so far says about your destiny?
Twain: I've been through a lot, and I'm sure there are going to be trying times throughout the rest of my life. But I think a lot of my basic struggles are over, because the struggles I experienced up until I had any kind of success were linked pretty much to lack of money.
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