Celine Dion Moved to Tears During Olympics Performance Amid Stiff Person Syndrome Battle
Céline Dion was moved to tears while making her comeback performance at the Olympics amid her battle with Stiff Person Syndrome.
The “My Heart Will Go On” singer, 56, took to the stage in Paris on Friday, July 26, just three days after it was rumored that she was set to perform during the opening ceremony.
It was an emotional and breathtaking moment as she sang édith Piaf's "Hymne A L'Amour" under the sparkling the Eiffel Tower in the City of Light.
The event marked Céline’s first performance since she canceled her tour and revealed her Stiff Person Syndrome diagnosis in December 2022.
“I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to reach out to you. I miss you all so much and I can’t wait to be on stage talking to you in person,” Céline told fans in an Instagram video in December 2022. “As you know, I’ve always been an open book and I wasn’t ready to say anything before, but I’m ready now. I’ve been dealing with problems with my health for a long time and it’s been really difficult for me to face these challenges and to talk about everything that I’ve been going through.”
She then explained that she had been diagnosed with a “very rare neurological disorder called the stiff-persons syndrome, which affects something like one in a million people.”
After revealing that she had to cancel her upcoming tour dates, Céline assured her fans that she was determined to get better. “I’m working hard with my sports medicine therapist every day to build back my strength and my ability to perform again, but I have to admit it’s been a struggle,” she said.
“All I know is singing. It’s what I’ve done all my life and it’s what I love to do the most. I miss you so much. I miss seeing all of you, being on the stage performing for you,” Céline concluded. “I always give a hundred percent when I do my shows, but my condition is now allowing me to give you that right now.”
The “I’m Alive” singer continued to share updates about her health battle while promoting her documentary, I Am: Céline Dion, in June 2024.
“It’s five days a week. Sometimes we push it even further because I’m getting ready to perform,” she told Vanity Fair about her rehabilitation. “My passion as a performer will never disappear. So I am training, rehabilitating myself.”
Céline added, “I’ve been so much about ‘the show must go on, I’m so strong, everything is okay, no problem,’ and I couldn’t do this anymore. I was like, ‘Yes, the show will still go on, but you will know why I was not there yesterday and last year.’ My fans deserve to know why. I did not turn my back on them, and I want this documentary to tell the world and my fans the reasons why I have been away.”
Meanwhile, an insider exclusively told Life & Style on July 12 that Céline is “devoted” and “so determined” to start performing again.
The source continued that Céline “doesn’t go for hours at a time” when practicing. Instead, she’s “taking it very slow and steady and making sure not to overdo it, but she is singing again and showing so much promise.”
