Céline Dion was forced to cancel dozens of concerts after she announced her stiff-person syndrome (SPS) diagnosis, but she told Hoda Kotb that she’s determined to return to the stage someday. And she’ll do whatever it takes to get there.
“What did this disease take away from you?” Hoda, 59, asked the “My Heart Will Go On” hitmaker, 56, in a preview for an NBC interview shared on Today on Tuesday, June 11.
“It didn’t take anything away from me. I’m going to go back onstage, even if I have to crawl. Even if I have to talk with my hands, I will. I will,” Céline replied.
The singer continued, “I am Céline Dion, because today my voice will be heard for the first time, not just because I have to, or because I need to. It’s because I want to and I miss it.”
Céline revealed that she had SPS, a rare and progressive neurological disorder that causes rigid muscles and painful spasms, in December 2022.
“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 said in an Instagram video. “While we’re still learning about this rare condition, we now know this is what’s been causing all of the spasms that I’ve been having. Unfortunately, these 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.”
Because of her condition, Céline had to cancel her 2023 and 2024 Courage World Tour.
“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. I always give a hundred percent when I do my shows, but my condition is now allowing me to give you that right now,” she said in her video.
In her interview with Hoda, Céline explained what it feels like to sing now.
“It’s like somebody is strangling you. It’s like somebody is pushing your larynx/pharynx this way,” she said, demonstrating. “It was like talking like that, and you cannot go high or lower. It gets into a spasm. It can also be in the abdominal, can be in the spine, can be in the ribs. But it feels like if I point my feet, they will stay in a (stuck position), or if I cook — because I love to cook — my fingers, my hands will get in a position.”
Céline’s full interview with Hoda airs on NBC on June 11 at 10 p.m. ET. She is also set to star in a Prime Video documentary about her SPS called I Am: Céline Dion on June 25.
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