Shania splits from husband
2008-05-16 09:40
Los Angeles - Canadian country star
Shania Twain has separated from her husband of 14 years,
reclusive record producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, People
magazine reported on Thursday.
It quoted a spokesperson as saying, "This is a private matter
and there will be no further comment at this time."
Twain, 42,
and Lange, who is in his late 50s, have a 6-year-old son
named Eja.
The marriage between the sexy singer and the secretive
Svengali famed for his work with such metal acts as AC/DC and
Def Leppard, was an unlikely - but highly lucrative -
partnership.
Lange produced Twain's three blockbuster albums, which have
each sold more than 10 million copies in the United States.
The
glossy efforts, complemented by steamy video clips, crushed the
barrier separating country and pop.
Like many men, Lange was entranced by one of Twain's
videos, the first of many in which she showed off her famed
belly button.
Rarely photographed
He called her persistently, and they agreed to
collaborate professionally. Six months after they eventually
met, they married in December 1993.
Unlike many superstar producers, Lange has not given an
interview in decades and is rarely photographed.
He did not
even appear in the official wedding photo Twain distributed to
the media.
But his fingerprints were all over Twain's huge trilogy of
albums, 1995's The Woman in Me, 1997's Come on Over, and
2002's Up!
More arena rock than traditional country, the
albums were packed with catchy hooks and lyrics celebrating
female empowerment.
The couple avoided the spotlight by dividing their time
between a chateau near Geneva and a luxury farmhouse in New
Zealand.