Why Celine Dion Fought To Keep ‘Intensely Revealing’ Moment in Her Documentary

During the Irene Taylor directed film, Dion is seen suffering through a 10-minute seizure, screaming and crying out in pain as her body moves uncontrollably. It showed Dion during a truly agonizing and vulnerable moment where the superstar was only “semi-conscious.”

While speaking to Variety, Taylor revealed what made her decide to continue filming during the shocking experience, revealing that the moment “snowballed very quickly”.

The Academy-award nominated director recalled watching everyone around Dion “doing their job”, from security ensuring she didn’t “fall off the table” to Dion’s manager calling her doctor.

“And I realized, ‘You know what? I have a job to do, too. I don’t know what we’re gonna do with this footage, but I’m just gonna keep filming, because I’ve been filming with Celine for eight months’, and not only has she never asked me to stop filming, she specifically told me, ‘Do not ask my permission, just do it.’ So I just did my job in that regard. But the human part of me was very uncomfortable,” Taylor admitted to the publication.

When Taylor showed Dion the “intensely revealing” scene within a rough cut of the film, the “My Heart Will Go On” singer demanded to keep it in, even when Taylor suggested cutting parts of the seizure that she felt were too invasive.

“I showed her my fine, rough cut, and the very first thing she said was, ‘I think this film can help me.’ I think she meant a lot of things by that. And then she said, ‘And I don’t want you to cut out that scene, and don’t cut it down.’ And by ‘that scene,’ we knew what she meant,” Taylor recalled Dion saying.

“I even pressed her. I was like, ‘Well, what about that part where you’re crying and they’re putting something up your [nose]…?’ I actually pulled up the parts that to me that were [potentially upsetting or invasive]. She said, ‘It’s OK. I told you I don’t want you to cut it. That’s what I go through. That’s what this feels like.'”

During the documentary, Dion makes it clear she wants to sing again, however she knows she won’t be able to at her full “five-octave” range.

Taylor revealed to the publication that she and Dion discussed the “different ways she could sing” which included having a “narrower vocal range”.

“I think that she even talked about doing a project in American Sign Language. She was really just trying to think of all these different ways she could still sing and perform and express herself, but not necessarily sing that five-octave, wide timbre that everyone’s used to,” Taylor revealed.

“And I think she is comfortable trying to do things in the studio. And I believe that right now she is working on her voice a little more than when we were filming, which is, I think, partly a sign of her having a more stable prognosis and medication regimen with her new doctor. So that would be my non-professional, just observational opinion.”

Dion was diagnosed in August 2022 with stiff-person syndrome, six years after losing her husband and former manager René Angélil to throat cancer. However, Dion has been suffering with symptoms — including excruciating muscle spasms, difficulty walking and breathing — for years.

The Grammy-winning singer first opened up about her diagnosis in 2022, in an emotional video in which she revealed her health problems and announced she’d be postponing — and ultimately cancelling — her concerts in 2023.

The Prime Video documentary, I Am: Celine Dion, is available to stream globally now.