Celine Dion didn’t let his stiff man syndrome diagnosis end his legendary career.
“Did this disease take it from you?” Hoda Kotb asked the singer in the new Today preview of the upcoming sit-down interview on Tuesday, June 11. Dion, 56, replied, “It doesn’t take anything away from me. I want to get back on stage, even if I have to crawl. Even if I have to speak with my hands, I will. I will.”
He added: “I am Céline Dion, because today my voice will be heard for the first time, not only because I have to, or because I need it. Because I want it and I miss it.”
In a preview that aired earlier this week, the “My Heart Will Go On” singer shared what inspired her to be diagnosed with stiff man syndrome after suffering years of loneliness.
Celine Dion and her loved ones offer a health update amid her battle with stiff man syndrome. Dion announced in December 2022 that she had to postpone some shows due to health fears. “Hello everyone. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I miss you all so much and I (…)
“I can’t do this anymore,” Dion told Kotb, 59, in the quote. “What are you going to say? … We don’t know what happened.”
Dion, who announced she had been diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder in December 2022, said she “didn’t take time” to accept her health condition because her husband was also “fighting for his own life.” (His wife and longtime manager, Rene Angélil, died in January 2016 at the age of 73 after a long battle with cancer. René-Charles, 23 years old, and Nelson and Eddy, 13 years old.)
“I have to raise my children. I have to hide. I have to try to be a hero. I feel like my body is abandoning me, holding on to my own dreams,” he explained. “Lying, for me, the burden is too much. Cheating people got me now. I can’t do it anymore.”
In another teaser from the pair’s conversation, Dion surprised Kotb with the revelation that her stiff-man syndrome spasms caused painful injuries. “I’ve broken a rib at one point, because sometimes if it’s too hard, it can break a rib,” he said.
He also compared singing to his condition as “someone strangling you,” explaining that his seizures could also occur “in the stomach, it could be in the spine (and) it could be in the ribs.”
In December 2022, Dion took to social media to announce that she had been diagnosed with stiff man syndrome a few years earlier – and it had canceled her. Brave World Tour because of his illness.
“I’ve been dealing with health problems for a long time and it’s really hard to face the challenge and talk about everything I’ve been through,” she said in an Instagram video at the time. adding that the disease “affects one in one million people” and “affects every aspect of our daily lives.”
Despite fighting the disease, a special source told Us Weekly in December 2023 that Dion is a “fighter” who is “working with doctors and physical therapists to get better.”
“Céline has taken time to focus on her health,” the insider said, but plans to take the stage again once she is cleared by the medical team.
Dion could still make some rare public appearances, including an appearance at the 2024 Grammy Awards.
“When I say, I’m happy to be here, I mean it. From my heart,” he said on stage when presenting the Album of the Year award. “Those who have been blessed enough to attend the Grammy Awards should never underestimate the incredible love and joy that music brings to lives and people around the world.”
