Shania Twain's 'horrible' best friend 'stole' her husband - so she married hers as revenge

When Shania Twain married hot shot producer Robert John 'Mutt' Lange on December 28, 1993, she thought their marriage would be for life.

Together they made beautiful music, collaborating on her top selling 1997 album Come On Over and making millions in the process.

Keen to escape the fame frenzy, they moved to the quiet Swiss town of Corseaux, overlooking Lake Geneva, and the arrival of their son Eja in 2001 only added to their joy.

Shania, now 54, had also found a best friend in PA Marie-Anne Thiebaud, who the couple had hired to look after their 46-room chateau.

Living just half a mile apart, the women had been pregnant together and when Shania worried that her marriage was on the rocks, it was Marie-Anne she confided in.

And when the Canadian singer shared fears that Mutt was cheating, Marie-Anne said she was being delusional.

Then in 2008, Mutt came home and told Shania he wanted a divorce. The very next day his motive became clear - he had allegedly been having an affair with Marie-Anne.

Mutt denied the claims, but Marie-Anne's devastated husband, Nestle executive Frédéric Thiébaud, had uncovered alleged evidence including phone bills and hotel receipts and was the one who broke the news to Shania.

"I was ready to die," she wrote in her 2010 memoir, From This Moment On.

"I was disgusted that another woman's lust for a lifestyle upgrade was worth the devastation of my family."

Shania was so desperate to stay with Mutt that she even penned a heartbreaking note to her love rival, begging her for 'mercy'.

It read: "I am so low, so broken-hearted I can't take it anymore. I wish you love and happiness, but I am dying, and I can't take it anymore.

"This is killing me. Have mercy. I loved him so much, and I can't cope anymore. I don't want life or love any more. I just want peace."

But in the dark days that followed, something happened that took both Shania and Frédéric by surprise - they fell in love.

Tongues started wagging after the couple were spotted holidaying in Canada, New York and Florida, and the star admitted he had 'renewed' her 'faith in love and commitment.'

“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," she told fans.

Announcing their engagement, she continued: "Frederic Nicolas Thiebaud has been a true gift to me as a compassionate, understanding friend and over time, an amazing love has blossomed from this precious friendship."

They married in Puerto Rico on New Year's Day in 2011 and Shania would later describe the events leading up to their relationship as 'beautifully twisted'.

As for Marie-Anne and Mutt, they are still said to be together and living in the same village as their exes.

But while Shania insists she has learned to forgive, she admits she will never forget.

In 2018 she told the Guardian she still often dreams about doing 'really nasty things' to her former friend.

“I’m always cutting her hair or shaving it off," she said.

She refuses to have anything to do with her ex, professionally or personally outside of co-parenting their son.

But despite believing she and Frédéric got the better end of the stick because they are 'happier individuals', Shania firmly believes it doesn't excuse her 'horrible' friend's actions.

Of her second marriage, she told the Belfast Telegraph: "We both can't believe it still. It's incredible. It is a beautifully incredible thing that is like a miracle. That, you know, I had to meet this horrible friend to...

"My point is, if you're a thief, you're a thief. 'I can't forgive you for stealing my...'

"So I had to meet this horrible betraying friend in order to meet this extraordinary man. And I had to meet Mutt to have this child who is the absolute centre of my life."