Shania Twain spoke with Jessie and Lennie Ware on their podcast, “Table Manners” to promote her new single, “Waking up Dreaming.” It is the first single the singer has released in five years, with her first album since 2017 currently in the works as well. While speaking with the hosts, the topic of most interesting dinner came up. Twain recalled a dinner with Oprah Winfrey that appeared to have occurred some time in the 90s.

She recalled the dinner fondly, calling Winfrey “such a smart lady.” “But as soon as we started talking about religion, it all went sour,” she added. “So I said, let’s stop talking about religion.” Twain did not get into specifics of the disagreement but described Winfrey as “quite religious,” while she described herself as more a “seeker.” “I’m not religious in the sense that I’m dedicated to a religion. I’m much more of a spiritual person,” said Twain, who has been linked as adhering to the Sant Mat school of Eastern Spirituality.  “There was no room for debate,” she added, “and I like to debate. Canadians like to debate everything. So, I’m like, ‘Oh, OK. It’s time to change the subject.’” She summed up the experience, saying, “You know how everyone always says, ‘Never talk about politics or religion.’”

Winfrey’s faith has been a subject of controversy throughout the years, with some labeling the media mogul a “false prophet,” while others look at her as a spiritual guide. In an interview with AARP Bulletin, Winfrey described her faith saying, “I grew up in the Baptist Church, and going to church with my father; I remember being 8 years old, trying to determine whether I was really ready to give up sin, and for days I agonized. But I was probably toward 81/2 when I actually joined the church and was baptized — and, my God, did I take it seriously! I was a zealot who irritated every one of my third-grade friends. They didn’t beat me up, but I got labeled ‘the preacher girl.’”

Winfrey has faced criticism for pushing what others call the “prosperity gospel.” Thomas Kidd, in reviewing Kathryn Lofton’s book, Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon, described Winfrey’s faith as, “Oprah is a religion because in America, consumption—of clothes, food, and books—is a religion. The right experiences and products, we believe, will fill the void inside. The core of Oprah’s message is the ‘spiritual injunction to consume,’ and in consuming, to become like Oprah.”

Mary Ann Kreitzer wrote of the star’s faith in a blog post that, “One of the most effective proselytizers drawing Christians away from the faith today is not a minister, mullah or rabbi. She is entertainer and New-Age guru Oprah Winfrey. Oprah calls herself a Christian, but she evangelizes for the New Age.” In her interview with AARP Bulletin, Winfrey even said, “I hear people say all the time, ‘I’m not really religious, but I consider myself spiritual.’ I definitely have always been spiritual, being raised by my grandmother on that little acre in Mississippi, indoctrinated, born into the church and the ways of the church.” She also described herself as not a “traditionalist” as she doesn’t attend church every Sunday. In addressing whether New Age spirituality was compatible with Christianity, she seemed to affirm it, saying, “But for me to live in a world that is not inclusive of other people who are not Christian would be the opposite of Christianity. I can’t define ‘God,’ so to be open to the mystical and mystery of God is a natural part of myself. So people criticize me for not being what they are, and I say, it’s working for me and has worked for me and continues to work for me, in a way that fills me with a sense of peace and contentment about what God means to me.”