CELINE Dion suffered painful spasms in heartbreaking scenes from her new documentary, I Am: Celine Dion.
The singer – who revealed her Stiff Person Syndome diagnosis in 2022 – was filmed battling tremors through her whole body as doctors yelled that she was “in a crisis.”
8
8
8
The devastating scene was towards the end of the documentary, which dropped on Amazon Prime on Tuesday.
It started off with Celine sitting with her medic and saying, “Oh,” with a look of surprise.
The medic asked, “spasms?” and she nodded and laughed in shock in.
The 56-year-old was asked to lie on her front as she suffered spasms through her fingers, face, and feet.
The medic and another assistant then gently turned the popstar to her side and she was seen moaning and crying in pain as the seizure took hold.
She was given Valium to calm her, as well as a nasal spray as the medic said, “Celine – you’re okay. You’re okay.”
The other medic said, “Attagirl, good job boss,” as the Canadian superstar squeezed his hand to communicate that she was “in pain.”
Her mouth twitched and tears rolled down her face as she lay on her side.
The first medic rubbed her back and shoulders as she moaned, saying reassuringly, “It’s okay Celine. Everything’s okay, Celine.
“Celine, you’ve got all your team with you. Everything’s going to be okay.”
When the seizure subsided, Celine opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, looking exhausted.
She then sat up and covered her face with her hands, wiping away her tears.
“Every time something like this happens it makes you feel so embarrassed and so… it’s just, you don’t like to not have control of yourself,” she said.
The first medic explained that the “crisis” came on because her “brain was overstimulated” after she had a “good time” singing in the studio.
8
8
“So what’s going to happen?” Celine asked in frustration.
“If I can’t get stimulated by what I love and then I’m going to go onstage and you’re going to put the pulse accelerator on me and turn me on my back?”
“It’s scary, I know,” the medic said. “This is not the end of your journey. But there’s always that step in the journey.”
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.
“You want another song? Our ending song? The last song of the night?” he asked, as she nodded, wiping away tears.
Pressing play on the song on his phone, he said, “Just because… you are.”
As the opening bars played, she exhaled and stood up, closing her eyes and clenching her fists as she belted out the lyrics.
The documentary’s director Irene Taylor told PA that Celine wanted her to keep in footage of her spasms.
Celine was diagnosed with the rare autoimmune and neurological syndrome in 2022 – six years after her husband René Angélil died from throat cancer.
The incurable condition causes muscle stiffness and painful spasms, but medication and physical treatment can make the disorder easier to manage.
The pop icon recently revealed how she told her children about her diagnosis after they noticed she could “barely walk.”
She has three kids with her late husband, René – René-Charles, 23, and twins Nelson and Eddy, 13.
“I was like, ‘Okay, they already lost a parent. I don’t want them to be scared,'” she recalled to People.
“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 told them.
8
8