Céline Dion is opening up about her life living with stiff-person syndrome. The 56-year-old legend had to step back from performing after more than a decade after her diagnosis, which she revealed in December 2022. Dion is determined to perform again despite the pain she endures singing, and along with her sons cheering her on, she says she’s had her late husband’s support too.
© GettyImagesDion met René Angélil when she was 12, and he began to manage her before they started a relationship. Despite the 26-year age gap, they got married on December 17, 1994, in a lavish ceremony at Montreal’s Notre Dame Basilica.
Angélil died on January 14, 2016, at the age of 73, after a long battle with throat cancer. In her cover story with PEOPLE, the “I’m Alive” singer said she receives signs from her late husband “all the time.”
Despite his death she says, “I’m still married to René. He’s still my husband.” Dion also makes sure he’s with her in some way at her appointments. “When we have to travel to my treatments to see my doctors, I always bring pictures [of him],” she explained.
© GettyImagesDion shared sons René-Charles, 23, and 13-year-old twins Eddy and Nelson with Angélil. She shared a rare insight into their lives when he was in the midst of his battle with cancer. “Even when they were very small, even when he was still with us in his bed [when he was] in his room struggling, he was with us still,” she shared.
[They would say], “‘Dad, we’re going to be watching Ratatouille tonight, so I hope you like it.’ They were talking to him, and they kiss the pictures,” she continued.
© GettyImagesDion’s interview comes ahead of her documentary, I Am Celine Dion (streaming globally on June 25 on Prime Video).
