Guaranteed a return to the stage, Celine Dion discussed in detail the last years of her fight against stiff person syndrome, during an interview granted Tuesday to Hoda Kotb, during the Today Show. A look back at this revealing interview, while at least two other interviews, including one on TVA, will be broadcast in the coming days.
Even if she has to “crawl”, even if she has to “talk with [her] hands”, Celine Dion will get back on stage and see her audience again. This is what she said, her voice filled with emotion, during the intimate interview conducted by Today Show co-host Hoda Kotb on NBC.
“I am Celine Dion, because today my voice will be heard for the first time, not just because I have to, or because I need to. It’s because I want it and I miss it,” she said. “I’m going to get back on stage because I’m ready to do it. And my vocal cords won’t scare me, because I’m going to be ready and I’m going to be able to hit those [high] notes! »
For her, it is not a question of letting the disease “take control”. “I believe in myself and in my courage,” added the diva of Charlemagne, explaining that she hopes to be “intelligent” enough this time to know when to stop and rest.
The diva was all honesty and vulnerability in her responses to the host’s questions, explaining in particular that she was afraid that the diagnosis of her illness would mean the end of her career. “I was trying to survive,” Celine Dion told Hoda Kotb. As the symptoms of her illness worsened, she also had to overcome the illness of her husband, René Angélil, who died in 2016.
For a long time, she felt forced to “lie” to hide the ordeals she was going through.
In 2022, Celine Dion announced on her social networks that she had stiff person syndrome, thus putting an end to months of rumors surrounding the cancellation of her shows. During the interview with Hoda Kotb, she said she was tired of hiding the truth from the world.
His first symptoms were almost 20 years ago. But it was in 2008, during the Taking Chances world tour, that she realized that her voice was affected. “I was in Germany, I was fine, and I had breakfast,” she said. And then my voice started to get very high and I felt like I couldn’t control it anymore, it was slipping. »
At the time, she considered canceling a concert, feeling almost unable to perform. “When I went on stage, I was very, very, very scared,” Celine Dion told the host. I was so scared that, just before going on stage, I said to my sound guy: ‘I don’t know if I can do the show. I don’t know what’s going on. » »
It took many years for the singer to understand what was happening to her, then, once the diagnosis was established, to feel at peace. “I didn’t want to live in hiding anymore… because the burden was too heavy,” she said. So I said to myself: OK, I just have to do what I have to do to do my best. But I also have to tell the world what’s happening. »
As candid as ever, Celine Dion described in detail how she feels when the symptoms of stiff person syndrome make her suffer. “It’s like someone is strangling you,” she said. It feels like someone is pushing on your larynx and pharynx. »
The singer initially thought it was exhaustion or maybe even a simple cold. Now that she knows she wasn’t suffering from having worked too hard at the time, she told Hoda Kotb, laughing, that she was “very much looking forward to being able to work too hard,” implying new that a big comeback is to be expected.
Recall that a documentary on the singer’s health problems, entitled Je suis: Céline Dion, will premiere on June 25 on Prime Video. The film’s director, Taylor Brodsky, briefly participated in Hoda Kotb’s interview, giving her perspective on Céline’s illness. “His body was enduring something unimaginable,” she said. And I don’t know if she was aware of that. And I wasn’t even sure she was going to survive it. »
More interviews will follow this week after the first interview with the Today Show, ahead of the documentary’s release. Host and producer Jean-Philippe Dion posted on Facebook that he had traveled to Las Vegas to conduct an interview with the diva that will air on TVA Sunday at 8 p.m. CBC News chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault has secured an exclusive interview with Dion that will air on CBC Gem and YouTube Thursday morning, and will be repeated on The National in the evening, before being the subject of a special broadcast Friday at 8 p.m.