Atikokan’s Katie Cox has landed a job that would likely make her the envy of any 16 year-old-girl. As nanny and tutor to the son of her second cousin, Shania Twain, she will travel with the global country music sensation first to the Caribbean, then to Vancouver for the Olympics’ closing ceremonies before heading to the singer’s home in Switzerland where she will live until April.
“It’s a bit overwhelming, I guess – but in a good way,” said Cox prior to embarking on her travels in mid-December.
Two weeks ago, Cox and her family travelled to Timmins for a family get together with Twain, son Eja, 8, and the rest of the family. Twain “is throwing us all a New Year’s party at a really fancy hotel in Timmins. All of us have to stay there, even my grandparents and aunts and uncles who live there,” said Cox, whose mother Darlene (also from Atikokan) is a first cousin to Shania. (Darlene’s father Donald Fraser, is a sister to Shania’s late mother, Sharon.)
After Twain carried the Olympic Torch in her hometown of Timmins on New Year’s day, Cox joined the singer and her entourage (including new charge Eja) in Toronto for a few days before heading to the Caribbean where the singer has a home. “While I’m there, I’m Eja’s tutor/nanny/companion.” She has also been told that she will on occasion take care of their Caribbean neighbour’s dog when the owner is away. That next-door neighbour is none other than Mick Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones.
After that six week stint in the tropics, the entourage will return briefly to Canada where the songstress will sing at the Vancouver Olympics wrap-up. From there, it’s on to Twain’s home in Switzerland. There, Cox will continue in her nanny capacity (Eja is homeschooled and Cox will assist him) and occasionally when Twain is away, accompany Eja on trips to visit to the boy’s father, music producer Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange, ex-husband of the songstress.
At the same time, Cox, a Grade 11 student, will continue her own studies via Independent Learning C centre courses she has enrolled in through the Atikokan High School. With this job in mind, she took a co-op course at North Star School last semester to gain some teaching experience.
Staying in Twain’s Switzerland home should be an adventure in itself. Cox and her family visited her home there over a year ago and she said not only does the home boast a “spectacular view of the Swiss Alps,” the yellow, four-level home “is huge, very spacious. Even the kitchen has all these different drawers – some are dishwashers, fridges, etc. It’s cool, because you just never know what you’re going to find. The house is just ‘simply elegant’ I guess you would say.”
Twain’s creativity extends beyond music, Cox says, adding what is likely a lesser-known piece of trivia about the singer: She has a penchant for designing sinks, including all the ones in her home.
Shania Twain broke through to stardom in 1995 with The Woman in Me, an album that sold 12 million copies worldwide; it was surpassed by her 1998 release of Come on Over; her most recent album 2002’s Up was ranked 35th of the top 200 albums of the decade by Billboard Magazine.
She is currently writing songs for a new album, acts as a spokesperson for Roots clothing, and is making a number of appearances over the next few months. (She will appear as a guest judge on American Idol airing January 19. The show was taped back in August.)
Despite all of that however, “I don’t know the celebrity side of her,” said Darlene, the singer’s first cousin who frequently cared for Twain and her siblings while they were growing up. “To me, she’s just Eileen [her given name]. She gets mad if we call her Shania,” she said with a laugh.
Katie has gotten to know her second cousin more so over the last year, because Twain has spent more time in her hometown of Timmins and also in Huntsville, where the family own cabins. “She’s very energetic, very full of life, busy, very artistic, and a really positive person,” said the teen.
Twain first broached the subject of hiring Cox last summer at a family get together in Huntsville where Cox, Twain and Eja shared a cabin. “I thought we were joking around at the breakfast table and she said, ‘Hey, you should come and be Eja’s tutor.’ I said, ‘Yeah I would if my mom would let me…’ It kind of expanded from there and plans unfolded over the summer.”
At least two factors led to Twain offering Cox the job: she needed a nanny and it was obvious that Eja and her young second cousin got along well. “Eja is a lot of fun and very genuine. A complete sweetheart. You’d think because he has everything you could imagine, that he would be very big headed, but he isn’t,” said Cox.
Cox has also gotten to know Twain’s core staff-security guards, personal assistants, and head nanny and said to Twain they are “are more like family than employees,” but as for what her life over the next four months will be like, Cox said she really could not guess.
Twain is known for treasuring her privacy and reportedly lives in Switzerland for that reason. The pace in that country is pretty laid-back, said Cox. The temperatures are comparable to here and the country is French-speaking. “I’ve bought French CDs.” Cox will return home in April, in time for the Outer to prepare for the 12 day spring canoe trip.
Paddling and portaging will be quite a change of pace, yet this particular winter job should make for a few stories to share around the campfire.
http://www.atikokanprogress.ca/2010/01/04/atikokan-teen-to-see-the-world-as-a-nanny-for-her-cousin-eileen-aka-shania-twain/
