“I started with small things, until I surrendered… with very dangerous drugs, to continue.” Singer Céline Dion spoke on Sunday, during an interview with TF1, about her excesses with “very dangerous medications”, before the broadcast of a documentary evoking the illness which keeps her from the stage.
The 56-year-old Canadian has been fighting for years against stiff person syndrome (PRS), an autoimmune disease, with no known cure, which causes acute pain, difficulty moving and spasms. She has not been able to give a concert since 2020. Amazon Prime Video will broadcast this documentary entitled “I am: Celine Dion”.
“We continue or we stop breathing”
When the pain became too strong, for a reason she didn’t know until the end of 2022, the Quebecer told the French television channel, “I canceled a lot of shows, I found myself lying, taking medication …Maybe I’ll try an anti-inflammatory, an antispasmodic or something.”
To the journalist Anne-Claire Coudray who asked her if she had taken “Valium” (diazepam, a benzodiazepine), Céline Dion replied: “Yes, among others”. “Without having a diagnosis. So at first it helped a little. But very quickly, the doses had to increase,” she continued. “And when we reach a dangerous level of medication and it no longer works, we have two choices: we continue or we stop breathing and it’s over.”
“Don’t experience pain alone. (…) Agree to talk about it but also to consult. Don’t suffer alone,” urged the singer.
Céline Dion, whose name was put forward in early June by The chained Duck to be one of the artists scheduled to perform at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games on July 26, reiterated his certainty of performing concerts again one day. ” I do not know when. But I’m going to come back on stage,” she said.
