"It's a progressive syndrome": Despite the illness, Celine Dion returns to perform
Celine Dion is preparing for a series of performances in Paris, for the first time since revealing the "stiff-person syndrome" from which she suffers. In an extensive interview, she says: "The minimum I can do for the fans is to show them that I am alive."
Celine Dion, 58, is preparing for a full return to the stage after three years in which she canceled her tour due to stiff-person syndrome. In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, she shares how she is rebuilding her body and confidence ahead of a series of performances in Paris. In the last six years, Dion has performed only once, at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics, and now she is scheduled for a residency of 10 shows in Paris, at a stadium that holds 40,000 people, in September and October.
"They paid for tickets. They bought my records. They gave me this privilege. So the minimum I can do is tell them that I am alive," Dion said about the fans waiting for her. She added that she wants to return with something that will show them how much they were missed: "So much time has passed, I would like to give them something that shows how much I missed them."
Dion's preparations are far from sitting on a couch and vocal warm-ups. The interview was held in a recording studio at the Palms Casino Resort, in a room full of training equipment: weights, a treadmill, a reformer machine, and a ballet barre that Dion stretched on. Her training routine includes 90-minute Pilates classes three times a week, alongside two ballet classes a week with a local troupe.
Dion also spoke about the diagnosis she received in 2022, after years of symptoms and an outbreak she experienced in 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. "It's a progressive syndrome. I don't like to say 'disease'," she said. The rare syndrome causes muscle stiffness and painful spasms that come and go and can worsen over time, and in the past, Dion has said that they also affected her ability to sing as she used to.
For three years after the diagnosis, Dion stayed away from fans, partly because she was afraid they would think she was living a full and happy life while still canceling shows. During that time, she said, she found comfort in nature: "I love trees so much, and I had an image in my head of myself trying to disappear among the leaves." When the trees were bare in the autumn, she saw it as an image of her condition: "I tried to tell them, 'I'm sorry, I don't have any more apples to give you,' until a voice answered me: 'But we didn't come for the apples; we came for the tree.'"
In March, Dion announced the residency in Paris on her birthday, calling the comeback "the best gift of my life." In a video she published then, she said: "I am so ready to do this. I feel good, I am strong, I am excited, of course, and also a little nervous, of course." Later she added: "I am managing my health, feeling good. I am singing again, even doing some dancing."
In that same video, Dion addressed the fans directly: "In recent years, every day that passed, I felt your prayers and support, your kindness and love. I am grateful to you all. I can't wait to see you again." Since then, according to reports, 10 more shows were added in May due to huge demand.
Dion first revealed in 2022 that she was dealing with the syndrome, and at that time she canceled the rest of her tour dates. In a video she uploaded to Instagram then, she said: "Unfortunately, these spasms affect every aspect of my daily life. Sometimes they cause difficulties when I walk and do not allow me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I am used to." She added then that she works hard every day with a sports medicine therapist to regain her strength and ability to perform: "But I must admit that it has been a struggle."
In previous interviews last year, Dion said that her happiness has returned, and that a large part of the weight that sat on her shoulders has lifted because now she can focus on reality. On Today, she phrased it more directly: "I believe in myself, in my courage," and said she would not let the syndrome control her life. "I will go on stage because I am ready. And my vocal cords will not scare me because I will be ready, and I will hit those notes."
