Celine Dion postponed her “Courage” tour after being diagnosed with stiff person syndrome, an incurable neurological disorder.
In an emotional video message posted in French and English on Thursday on Instagram, Dion said stiff person syndrome was causing spasms that affect her ability to walk and sing.
“Unfortunately, the spasms affect every aspect of my daily life, sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I’m used to,” she said.
Stiff person syndrome causes rigid muscles and painful muscle spasms, which can be triggered by such things as loud noises or light touch. The cause isn’t known, but it is thought to be an autoimmune disorder. Severe cases can cause difficulty walking and hunched posture.
Celine Dion has postponed her shows due to an incurable neurological disease.
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CELINE DION REVEALS INCURABLE NEUROLOGICAL DISORDER DIAGNOSIS IN EMOTIONAL VIDEO
Here is a look at Dion’s career, personal life and health struggles:
Early Years
Celine Dion and Rene Angélil in Los Angeles in March 1990.
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Céline Dion and her manager, René Angélil, photographed in 1988.
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Celine Dion is from Québec, Canada. She began singing at a young age with her 13 siblings at a small club that her parents owned.
A recording of Dion singing was sent to René Angélil when she was just 12 years old. The music manager took out a mortgage on his home to help finance the music star’s debut album.
Dion’s first music was made in French, and her debut album, “La Voix du Bon Dieu,” reached the top of the local charts in Canada.
Celine Dion’s career breakthrough
Celine Dion and Peabo Bryason perform “Beauty and the Beast.”
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Dion later had her career breakthrough in America when she recorded the title track for Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” in 1991. She sang along with Peabo Bryson for the hit song.
Dion won an Academy Award for best song and a Grammy Award for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal.
She released her self-titled album, “Celine Dion,” in 1992 with “Beauty and the Beast” as the lead single.
Throughout her career, Dion has released 27 studio albums and seven live albums – some in French and others in English. She earned five total Grammy Awards and two Academy Awards.
She’s most known for her love ballads, including hits “I’m Alive,” “Because You Loved Me” and “A New Day Has Come.”
Dion recorded “My Heart Will Go On,” the title track for “Titanic,” in 1997. The song stayed at the top of the Billboard 200 for 16 weeks after the movie premiered.
Her marriage to René Angélil
Celine Dion married her manager, René Angélil.
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Celine Dion first met the late René Angélil when she was only 12 years old. The music manager was 38 years old at the time. Dion’s sibling had sent Angélil a recording of the musician.
Dion and Angélil went on their first official date in 1987 when the singer was 19 years old, although she later revealed they had been romantically seeing each other for about a year before that. The pair kept things private for the next five years.
Dion and Angélil got engaged in 1991. After going public with their relationship and engagement, the two got married in 1994. The ceremony was broadcast live on television in Canada.
When Angélil was first diagnosed with cancer in 1998, Dion took a break from her career. When he was deemed cancer-free in 2000, the couple renewed their wedding vows.
Becoming a mom
Celine Dion gave birth to her first child in 2001.
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Dion and Angélil welcomed their first child together in 2001. René-Charles was born after the musician underwent multiple rounds of fertility treatments.
Dion opened up about her experience breastfeeding the baby in an interview with People magazine.
“He’s a miracle child,” Dion reflected in 2007. “I breastfed René-Charles for a year, and I’ll never forget it. His eyes, his skin, his smell, his sleeping, the sweetness, the love, there’s nothing like it.”
Celine Dion’s Vegas residency
Celine Dion opens her first Vegas residency in 2003.
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After the birth of her first child, Dion launched her Las Vegas residency. She began performing “A New Day…” at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in 2003.
The show ran through 2007.
Dion’s first Vegas residency remains the highest-grossing residency of all time.
Welcoming twins
Celine Dion pictured with her twins in 2017.
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Dion and Angélil welcomed twins, Nelson and Eddy, in 2010 after the singer underwent multiple rounds of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).
The “To Love You More” singer remained patient during the treatments.
“You know how it works. We are great,” she told People magazine at the time. “We hope for the best, we hope to get pregnant. If it happens, it happens.”
Prior to the birth of their twins, Angélil told the outlet: “We’re ecstatic. Céline is just hoping for a healthy pregnancy. She was hoping for one baby, and the news that we are having two is a double blessing.”
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Celine Dion’s second Vegas residency
Celine Dion performs on-stage in Vegas in 2016.
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In 2011, Dion returned to Las Vegas for her second residency. “Celine” also took place at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
Dion did take a break from music to care for her husband after he was diagnosed with cancer again in 2013. She postponed Vegas shows for about a year before returning to the spotlight.
For her last Vegas show, Dion wrote a letter thanking the venue for the partnership and fans for attending.
“Over sixteen years ago, my dear beloved René and I shared a dream and a vision to create a spectacular show which we could stage in one destination, night after night, with the hopes that people from all over the world would travel to see,” the letter said. “You didn’t disappoint us. You traveled far and wide, as you’ve done tonight, to sing with us, dance with us, laugh with us, and even cry with us (tears of joy, we hope!)”
The death of her husband
Celine Dion, with children Nelson Angélil, Rene-Charles Angélil, Eddy Angélil and mother Therese Dion, attend her husband’s funeral.
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René Angélil died after a battle with cancer.
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Dion’s husband René Angélil died in 2016. The musician’s former manager passed away after a “long and courageous battle” with cancer.
“Mr. Angélil, 73, died of throat cancer at his home in Henderson while under the care of a physician,” the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner said in a statement at the time, via People magazine.
Throughout the years since his death, Dion has reflected on her loss in interviews. The “All by Myself” singer admitted she feels “very, very strong” as Angélil is still “part of” her life with her children.
“Losing my husband, for my kids to lose their father, it was quite something,” she said during an appearance on the TODAY show in 2021. “I feel like René has given me so much through the years and still today. I see my kids. I look at them – we live with him. We still live with him. He’s part of our lives every day, so I have to say that I feel very, very strong.”
Celine Dion’s return to music and her health struggles
Celine Dion performs in 2019.
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Dion only took a month off after the death of Angélil before returning to the stage. She famously broke down singing “All by Myself” on-stage in 2016 following the tragic loss.
She went on to end her second Las Vegas residency in 2019.
Although it was announced that Dion would return to Vegas in 2021, the residency never happened as the musician continued to deal with “severe and persistent muscle spasms.”
Most recently, Dion was set to finish her “Courage” tour, which she began before the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020. The show was postponed at the time due to the virus. However, since then, Dion has been diagnosed with an incurable neurological disorder.
The musician revealed that she was postponing the spring 2023 dates until 2024 and canceling the summer 2023 dates altogether after being diagnosed with stiff person syndrome.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
