A candid look at Celine Dion’s struggles with stiff person syndrome is being shared with fans. The legendary singer had a terrifying medical emergency while in physical therapy,
and the whole ordeal is documented in a recently published documentary. The singer spoke out about living with the symptoms of stiff person syndrome,
a rare and degenerative neurological illness, for 17 years in her new documentary, I Am: Celine Dion. Dion first announced her diagnosis in 2022.
“I am really in need of my instrument. Furthermore, my instrument was malfunctioning. The 56-year-old Dion said that she and her band began to “raise the medicine” because she had trouble reaching certain notes onstage in 2018 and 2019.
Despite finishing her 2018 tour, Dion had to put her 2019 tour dates on hold a few times because to the “common cold” before the pandemic ended it.
Once again, she had to keep postponing and rescheduling events when her tour started in 2022. She formally withdrew from all remaining engagements only after she revealed her condition.
“I am no longer able to lie,” Dion states in the file. From infected sinuses to infected ears, and beyond. On occasion,
I would direct my microphone toward the crowd and encourage them to sing along. At one point, I tapped on the microphone as if it were the microphone’s fault, to cover up my cheating.
On July 5, 2019, Celine Dion will do a live performance in Hyde Park as part of Barclaycard Presents British Summer Time in London,
England. Samir Hussein/Redferns shot the photo. A full-body spasm is another very emotional event that Dion reveals in the documentary.
A cramp develops in Dion’s foot while she lays on a massage table and does physical therapy exercises.
She goes into a full-body seizure within minutes, rendering her mute and unable to respond to anybody around her.
While the video rolls, another doctor enters the room with benzodiazepine nasal spray and gives it to Dion, who is still there but wailing in agony. Watching the video is excruciating.
Singer Celine Dion takes the stage during the 2015 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, on November 22, 2015. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images photocredit)
Dion can sit up and talk when his spasms have passed, which usually take half an hour to an hour. It “makes me feel so embarrassed” whenever anything similar occurs, she adds.
“To lose command of one’s own life is something I just can’t put into words.” Her physical therapist thinks she was “overstimulated” after a singing session and that’s what caused the attack.
She asks, “If I can’t be aroused by what I love, then I’m going to get on stage, and you’re going to strap a pulse oximeter to me and turn me upside down?”
Dion longs for the day when she can go back onto the stage. Here you may see the terrifying video of her seizure.
Watching this documentary will move you to tears. I urge everyone to watch, even if they don’t like Celine Dion.
