CELINE Dion has revealed she stayed inside for four years while dealing with stiff person syndrome.
The singer, 56, explained that she didn’t leave the house after canceling her shows for fear that fans would think she wasn’t “that sick.”
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Celine reflected on her stiff person syndrome diagnosis during an appearance on Hoda Kotb’s Making Spaces podcast, which aired on Wednesday.
She first started experiencing symptoms of the disorder during her Taking Chances World Tour in 2008.
“The burden was so heavy,” the pop star said.
“I was like, ‘I need to do what I need to do but I also need to tell the world what’s happening.’ I had a proof of whats going on with me.
“I can’t go and see my kids play golf. What if those people were supposed to see me on stage two years ago and they’re like, ‘But how come she’s watching her kid and she’s canceling shows? She’s not that sick.’
“So I didn’t want people to see me because if they see me, I’m supposed to be fine,” Celine went on.
“If I go outside, I’m supposed to be onstage. So I stayed inside. So four years, inside.”
Hoda gasped and repeated, “Four years?”
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“Yeah. Four years,” Celine confirmed.
She added that she “insisted” on living with her kids.
“I think about it sometimes – I would be very very lonely and it would be harder if I had no kids,” she said.
Celine has three children with her late husband, René Angélil – René-Charles, 23, and twins Nelson and Eddy, 13.
She was diagnosed with the rare autoimmune and neurological syndrome in 2022 – six years after René died from throat cancer.
The progressive condition causes muscle stiffness and painful spasms and is incurable, but medication and physical treatment can make the disorder easier to live with
The singer recently talked about how she told her children about her diagnosis.
She told People that her kids had “started to notice” that she could “barely walk.”
What is Stiff Person Syndrome?
Celine Dion stepped out of the spotlight after she was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune condition
Stiff-Person Syndrome is a rare neurological disorder that progresses overtime.
The condition causes pain and muscle spasms that worsen over the years.
According to Contact A Family, the condition is characterized by “progressive stiffness and painful spasms in the back and limbs, which are often triggered by touch, noise or anxiety, and exacerbated by movement.”
There is currently no cure, but death from the condition is rare.
Strong spasms to the chest can sometimes cause difficulty breathing.
“I was like, ‘Okay, they already lost a parent. I don’t want them to be scared,” the singer recalled.
Celine told them, “You lost your dad, [but] mom has a condition and it’s different. I’m not going to die. It’s something that I’m going to learn to live with.”
She first revealed her condition in a tearful video on Instagram in December 2022.
The Canadian musician was forced to cancel her global tour due to her health issues.
She reflects on her health struggles in her new documentary, I Am: Celine Dion, which drops on Prime Video on June 25.
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