Céline Dion is gearing up for her grand return to the stage with a five-week, 16-show run at Paris’ La Défense Arena this fall slated to kick off on Sept. 12 and run through an Oct. 17 gig, before returning in the spring for another 10 shows in May 2027.
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But first, the beloved vocal powerhouse is opening up about the devastating 2022 medical diagnosis that nearly derailed her chart-topping career, and life. In an emotional profile in Harper’s Bazaar magazine, Dion, 58, reveals that her battle with the rare neurological disorder Stiff-Person Syndrome was even longer than previously detailed and that despite its debilitating effects, she is determined to fight on.
Dion has only performed once in the past six years, delivering an emotional rendition of Édith Piaf’s “Hymne A L’Amour” from the Eiffel Tower at the 2024 Paris Olympics, a one-song performance that proved that she had not lost any of her signature vocal prowess. But the rigors of a return to full concerts over multiple nights is a different prospect in light of Dion canceling a 2022 North American and a 2023-2024 European tour due to the effects of the disorder.
“It’s been so long, I would like to offer them something to show how I’ve missed them,” Dion told the magazine about the series of shows that she has been training for after such a long layoff. The article details the singer doing 90-minute Pilates sessions three times a week, as well as ballet classes with a local company two days a week. It also describes her standing with her leg up on a ballet barre, stretching into a wide split and going through her paces after years of such chronic, intense pain that she could barely walk.
“It is a progressive condition. I don’t like to say ‘disease.’ Disease makes you go like this,” she said, scrunching her nose while staying in constant motion to combat the effects of the condition that can cause her muscles to freeze at any moment. The article notes that Dion had experienced symptoms for 17 years before being formally diagnosed in 2022 with the extremely rare disorder that is believed to affect one or two people per million.
The rare, incurable neurological condition causes muscle stiffness and spasms, as well as balance issues and seizures, with Dion previously saying that when she first began to notice the symptoms, she had mobility issues and spasms so intense they caused broken ribs. She has attacked the disease with medications, physical therapy, vocal therapy, immunotherapy and, because there are no FDA-approved treatments, her foundation donated $2 million for research into autoimmune neurological disorders.
But, when the then-undiagnosed disorder’s symptoms flared up during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Dion went dark and then stayed off the radar for three years, afraid her devoted fans might think she was living a carefree, happy life while she was canceling shows on them.
“They paid for tickets,” she says of her beloved fans, who she noted helped her reach the status she has and afforded her a life that allowed her to get answers from leading experts about what was ailing her. “They bought my records. They gave me that luxury. So the least I can do is tell them that I’m alive.” She finally broke her silence in the 2024 documentary, I Am: Celine Dion, as well as that year’s one-hour NBC special, in which she revealed that desperation for relief led her to take near-lethal doses of Valium to treat anxiety, seizures and muscle spasms.
So, what can fans expect for Dion’s grand return? Annie Horth, the head of wardrobe and creative adviser to the singer who has a legendarily massive collection of bespoke, glittery stage costumes said the show will be “grandiose,” showing off Dion’s many facets. “She goes from intimate and romantic to a vocal powerhouse, so we are creating something where she navigates that,” said Horth.
That sounds about right to Adele, who told the magazine that her “love for ballads is definitely a direct pass down from her. She’s dramatic, and I love being a drama queen.”
In her inimitable positive, energetic spirit, Dion told the magazine that her only option was to keep on keeping on. “Instead of questioning life, can you live life?” she wondered, answering her own query with an unequivocal affirmation: “So I’m living my life, girl. I’m living the life.”
