Photo: Shania Twain Instagram
Shania Twainhas been a proud mom since 2001.
The singer welcomed sonEja D’Angelo Lange, 23, on Aug. 12, 2001, with her then-husbandRobert “Mutt” Lange.
“My priorities, of course, have changed. He’s my focus of every day,” Twain said about Eja, pronounced “Asia,” in a 2002 interview on the CBC. “He’s just brought so much more love into my life.”
The “You’re Still The One” singer and her then-husband had moved to Switzerland, where she felt she could give her sona normal upbringing. “I would like him to be well-rounded, humble and honest, without having to be deprived to develop that character,” she said in 2007. “We go out of our way to try to keep him appreciative. We don’t keep him in a bubble.”
But Twain happened to find love with Marie-Anne’s ex-husband,Frédéric Thiébaud, and they married in 2011. “[He] has been the most constant companion and support for both Eja and I,” she said in 2010. “And having gone through the suffering of his family splitting apart at the same time and under the same extreme circumstances, he understands me better than anyone.”
Here’s everything to know about Shania Twain’s son, Eja D’Angelo Lange.
In 2007, Twain shared that 6-year-old Eja liked to help out in the kitchen. “He alreadylikes cooking. He doesn’t love cleaning up his toys, but he’ll do it,” she said.
Just like his Grammy-winning parents —Twain has five awardsfor songwriting and performance, whileLange has fivein songwriting and production — Eja is a musician.
“He’s been making music for a few years now,” Twain toldSounds Like Nashvillein 2017. “He’s very devoted and a real hard worker. He’s got a crazy passion for making music, and it’s really fun to watch.”
As a listener, Eja has eclectic taste: “He definitely listens to EDM, so that’s where he is as a fan, but he listens to all kinds of music. He likes a wide variety of stuff.Hans Zimmeris one of his biggest heroes. There’s a real broad spectrum in his life musically, so he makes all kinds of stuff and he orchestrates a lot of things. He loves to arrange music and write music. He’s just on his own journey.”
The mother-son duo have spent time in the studio together, too. In a2021 appearanceonLive with Kelly and Ryan, Twain spoke about her “very musical” son. “As far as writing and producing, every once in a while we get into the studio together,” she said. “We send each other ideas.”
She added: “I work on a different system than he does, so that can be a little complicated, too, because I’m on Pro Tools and he’s on Logic. But otherwise, we just send music back and forth. I use the guitar and he uses synthesizers. You never know, maybe someday we’ll come up with something really great.”
Shania Twain Instagram
“He’s not taking interest in being a performer, so I’m relieved about that if I was being really honest,” Twain told Sounds Like Nashville. “I think he’ll enjoy music more just being the creator of the music. It’s just really taxing being a performer, being the person out in front, unless that’s what he really wants. He just has a quiet confidence about him. He doesn’t have that extrovert … type of personality. I think it will suit him well to be the creator.”
Eja and Twain keep their holidays simple.
“At Christmas, he’ll have only three presents,” Twain toldThe Mirrorin 2018. “A lot of people would send him stuff, and … I tell him that anything he’s not using after a month, we’re giving to charity.”
Twain has been open aboutgrowing up in povertyand raising her younger siblings after their mother and stepfather died in a car accident. She toldThe Mirrorthat her upbringing informed how she raised Eja. “He’ll never know my childhood or the way I grew up, it’s like another lifetime away,” she told the outlet. “You have to make a real effort not to spoil your children.”
She continued: “I have to be careful not to let him have everything he wants, so I’ve only ever baked a cake for his birthday gift. … It’s all he’s known. He expects it. I’d say, ‘You know what you’re getting from me for your birthday,’ and he’d look forward to it.”
Twain left the spotlight for more than a decade following herLyme diseasediagnosis. She later underwentopen-throat surgeryand relearned how to use her voice. It was Eja’s growing independence thatinspired Twainto seek treatment.
“I was on a long sabbatical, and my son was getting older,” she told PEOPLE in 2020. “I love being a full-time mom, but I started thinking, ‘What am I going to do when I have an empty nest?’ I had a problem with my voice; I was avoiding doing something about it.”
She added, “As my son got more independence, I had more time to start focusing on my voice and I put all my energy into that. … I thought that it was just fatigue or burnout. But no — Lyme disease commonly affects the nerves. When I discovered a glimpse of hope, I ran with that.”
Eja has a dog named Luna, who has appeared in Twain’s video interviews. In a 2021 appearance onLive with Kelly and Ryan, hostKelly Riparecalledtheir conversationa year prior. “Last time we spoke to you, you were in Switzerland and you had a dog named Luna in the background. And Luna’s your son Eja’s dog?” Ripa asked.
Eja got his love of animals from his mom, who has kept several pets throughout his life. “I’ve got dogs everywhere and horses,” she said. “They keep me inspired and happy.”
“Having a child was a completely life-changing experience,” Twain said on Allison Kugel’s podcastAllison Interviewsin 2020. She shared that she hopes to pass down some of her feminist values to her son.
“I think Eja has learned, just for example, that women are completely capable of their own independence, independent decision making, independent financial support, independent dreaming,” she told Kugel. “And also, you know I’ve always been a strong woman in Eja’s life, but I’ve also reminded him often that I’m not perfect. I have my flaws and my weaknesses and that it’s important to have empathy for the people there in your life.”
She added that she hopes Eja will support the women around him. “[Women are] not always the pillar, they’re not always the rock,” she said. “It’s good for sons to know that we’re human and we all need each other.”
It seems that Eja has long had empathy for others. In 2009, Twain recalled that 7-year-old Eja had seen her crying and listening to sad music during her separation. “Eja walked up behind me andasked me why I was crying,” she wrote on her website. “He wasn’t sad at first — just totally surprised to see his mom crying … and didn’t know what to make of it.”
She continued, “[I] told Eja that music was very powerful and can make people quite emotional. It can make you want to dance, feel angry, happy or sad and that this song was sad and made me cry. He accepted this, hugged me and went back to what he was doing.”
source: people.com