'I'm still married': Celine Dion remembers late husband René Angélil
Canadian singer Celine Dion, in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, revealed that she continues to feel the presence of her late husband and former manager, René Angélil, during her ongoing battle with stiff-person syndrome. She noted that he is "still my husband" and she carries his pictures when she visits her doctors. They were married between 1994 till his demise in 2016.
She'll be making more revelations about family life in documentary
Dion told the portal, "I'm still married to René. He's still my husband. When we have to travel to my treatments to see my doctors, I always bring pictures [of him]. And we have pictures, of course, all over the place in the house." She will be making more revelations about her life in the upcoming documentary, I Am: Celine Dion (streaming globally on June 25 on Amazon Prime Video).
Dion's children keep their father's memory alive
Dion's sons with Angelil — Rene-Charles, 23, and 13-year-old twins Eddy and Nelson — also play a significant role in keeping their father's memory alive. "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," Dion recalled. "[They would tell him], 'Dad, we're going to be watching Ratatouille tonight, so I hope you like it.'"
New documentary to shed light on Dion's life and loss
The documentary film, directed by Oscar nominee Irene Taylor, features numerous pictures of Dion's late husband and offers an intimate look into their home. "I didn't want for Irene to ask me if she was allowed to capture this or that. I was like, 'I want you and your team, if you're in the home of my three boys, and my dog, and myself, and my condition and my fight... I give you the OK to not ask,'" Dion shared.
Dion's battle with SPS highlighted in film
Following her diagnosis of stiff-person syndrome in August 2022, Dion has been undergoing intense treatment, including rehabilitation therapy five days a week at her Las Vegas home. The documentary provides insight into this journey. Director Taylor sees the film as an opportunity to raise awareness about the relatively unknown disease using Dion's platform. "It might give people a new perspective on a very unknown disease," Taylor said.
Dion expressed gratitude and promised honesty to fans
As the premiere of I Am: Celine Dion approaches, Dion expressed her gratitude toward her fans for their support. She wants them to understand another aspect of her life, referring to it as another 'song.' "My fans who know me well know not all [my] songs are happy, but they are true. And this is a song that is very honest, and a song that I own," she said about her life over the past several years.
Know about the disease Dion is battling
Per Johns Hopkins Medicine, "Stiff person syndrome is a rare autoimmune neurological disorder that most commonly causes muscle stiffness and painful spasms that come and go and can worsen over time. However, some people experience other symptoms such as an unsteady gait, double vision or slurred speech." "SPS experts now consider the syndrome to be a spectrum of disorders, which means it is likely more common than originally thought, although still rare."
