Documentary “I am: Céline Dion”: “The obstacle was not the illness, it was the lie,” says the director

Director Irene Taylor says her documentary I am: Celine Dion is the story of a woman who “ran into a very big obstacle right in the middle of her life.”

“And the obstacle wasn’t the illness, it was the lies. It grew so much that it became an insurmountable obstacle. And the pandemic was her excuse to withdraw, and that’s where I met her,” she told Jean-Philippe Dion on the sidelines of Jean-Philippe’s interview with Céline.

If Irene Taylor speaks of a “lie”, it is because the singer hid her condition from the public, in addition to denying herself what was happening to her, therefore without slowing down her frantic pace of concerts.

“The first day, she arrived without makeup and that sent me a very powerful signal,” said M.^me Taylor.

“Céline is at home, she lives a fairly calm life. She jokes a lot with her sons. “We sometimes told them to turn down the volume on the video games because we were so quiet with her that we could hear them in the other room,” she added.

No one told the documentarian that Celine Dion suffered from stiff person syndrome because the singer had not yet spoken about it publicly. “And when she met me, she was like, ‘Here’s someone I can tell my secret to’.”

“What surprised me the most was Céline’s authenticity. And I really didn’t know, at the start of filming, if she was going to be sincere or not. And I realized on the first day that she was going to give me something very precious. She was very remarkable in this sense. And that’s very rare for a film subject, especially if it’s a public figure. I think her “fans” will recognize the warrior woman. The brave woman, the funny woman. She’s so naughty and funny.”

Céline Dion’s interview can be caught on TVA+. As for the documentary I am: Celine Dionit will be launched on June 25 on the Prime Video platform.