Shania Twain's 4 Siblings: All About Her Sisters and Brothers

Shania and her siblings, Jill, Carrie Ann, Darryl and Mark, grew up in poverty in a small town outside of Ontario, Canada

Shania Twain is extremely loyal to her four siblings: sisters Jill and Carrie Ann and brothers Darryl and Mark. The “Giddy Up!” singer grew up in a blended family of five kids in a small town just outside of Ontario, Canada, called Timmins.

Her parents, Sharon Twain and Clarence Edwards, welcomed three daughters together — Jill, Shania (born Eilleen Regina) and Carrie Ann — before divorcing in 1967. Sharon went on to marry Jerry Twain, whom Shania said emotionally and physically abused her as a child. Soon after the birth of their son Mark, Jerry legally adopted Shania and her sisters and changed their surname to Twain. They became a family of seven after the couple adopted Jerry’s nephew, Darryl, following his mother’s death.

In 1987, Sharon and Jerry died in a car accident. With the eldest of Shania's siblings, Jill, already married and managing a family of her own, Shania quickly became head of the household, a role she was already familiar with.

"I was already very much a mother figure in our house,” Shania explained on the Making Space with Hoda Kotb podcast in 2023. “My mother was depressed a lot of our lives, didn't get out of bed for days many times.”

Since their sister’s rise to fame, Jill, Mark and Darryl have stayed out of the public eye. The country music star doesn’t publicly speak about her siblings often, but younger sister Carrie Ann has made a a few public appearances with Shania over the years.

Keep reading to learn more about Jill, Carrie Ann, Darryl and Mark, and their relationship with the Grammy award-winning country music artist.

Shania and her siblings didn’t grow up with much

Growing up in Timmins, Ontario, Shania and her siblings didn’t have much but each other. The “Queen of Me” singer-songwriter has been very open about her abusive and traumatic childhood. During a 2011 episode of ABC News’ Nightline, Shania recalled times when her parents could not pay rent or stock the kitchen with groceries. Consequently, she added, it wasn’t uncommon for her to go to school on an empty stomach.

“It’s very hard to concentrate when your stomach’s rumbling,” Shania said, noting that she didn’t have the “courage” to ask classmates if they had any spare food. "I would certainly never have humiliated myself enough to reach out and ask for help and say, ‘You know, I'm hungry. Can I have that apple that you're not going to eat?’ "

On the topic of her upbringing, Shania told The Sun in 2020: “It was a s----- way to grow up. I wouldn’t want to do it again but I was more prepared as a person because of the hardship I came from."

Their parents died in a car accident in 1987

In 1987, while a then-22-year-old Shania was attending a “computer programming” school, she received a call from her sister that their parents had been involved in a fatal car accident. Her parents’ death came roughly six years before Shania’s debut self-titled album was released.

"My sister had called me and told me that they died in a car accident. I just, you know, I fell apart totally, just into shock for days, and I just couldn't let go of them," Shania recalled during an interview on the Making Space with Hoda Kotb podcast in 2023.

"I lost a very important foundation. As rickety as it was, it was still a foundation," she added. "My whole life history was there, with them, and many of the associations fell along the way, away, after my parents died. It was so true that so much of my life was stemming from them being in my life — the good and the bad."

Shania's younger brother Mark was also in the car with his parents and suffered minor injuries.

Shania helped raise her younger siblings

With her older sister already out of the house, busy and married with two kids of her own, Shania took on the responsibility of raising Carrie Ann, Darryl and Mark following the death of their parents. In a raw conversation on Hoda Kotb's podcast, Shania revealed that she often refers to her younger siblings as “my kids.”

“I call them that often. I know they’re not mine, but I say that,” shared the Grammy winner. Shania added that she and Carrie Ann fought hard to keep their family unit intact, especially for Darryl and Mark, who were only 13 and 14 years old at the time.

"My younger sister was still living at home, and my two younger brothers were still, you know, 13 and 14 years old," she explained. "We all agreed that they shouldn't be separated. But no relatives were able to take both of them in. So, the only way to keep them together was for us to stay together."

Mark said Shania was "strict" with her younger siblings

Speaking to PEOPLE in 1995, Shania's younger brother Mark (who was a computer technician at the time) said of his sister: "She was really strict with us. She was scared."

Shania went on to explain to PEOPLE in 1999, "I was overwhelmed with a lot of decisions. I had to deal with my parents' mortgage, and I didn't even know what a mortgage was."

However, despite the hardship, the singer said she learned "how strong I was capable of being." She added, "I didn't fall apart. I kept it together, paid the bills, took care of the kids, did the groceries, cooked and cleaned and still kept down a job. I always had a feeling things would work out. I still feel that way about life."

Carrie Ann supported Shania at her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony

Carrie Ann watched her big sister get inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame on June 2, 2011. Photographs from the momentous occasion showed the pair donning big smiles and in a tight embrace.

During her induction speech, Shania briefly touched on her rocky upbringing.

“I am very humbled by today. Why is a girl from Timmins, Ontario standing here getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? I really don’t know,” she laughed, adding, “Where I’ve come from and where I am today, it’s a small miracle to be honest that I am standing here.”

Carrie Ann once sang backup for Shania

Those who attended Shania’s Las Vegas residency show in 2012 were privy to a special performance by not only Shania herself but her younger sister as well.

Speaking to CMT a few years later, Shania explained why having Carrie Ann’s on-stage presence was a leading factor in her decision to go forth with the residency. She recalled how “encouraging” Carrie was of the once-in-a-lifetime offer. The show, aptly titled Shania: Still the One, marked Shania’s biggest performance since her Lyme disease diagnosis in 2003, and, consequently, her decade-long hiatus from music.

“She was encouraging me,” Shania said of Carrie Ann. “‘Oh, yeah, come on. You can do it. You can do it.’ And so I said, ‘Well, listen, how about if you do it, I’ll do it? We’ll do it together.’ ”

She continued, “That was just really a turning point for me — knowing that she was into the idea of participating and not just being there behind the scenes but taking that plunge, as well.”

Although all eyes were on her, Shania said that knowing Carrie Ann was right there beside her made all the difference in her “moral support.”

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