These are images that send shivers down your spine. Celine Dion reveals herself as she has never done before. For a year, she agreed to be followed by Prime Video cameras for the purposes of the documentary I am Celine Dion – put online by the platform on June 25. The singer opens the doors to her daily life, with her twins in particular. But also and mostly a daily life marked by illness.
At the end of 2022, after months of silence and multiple postponements and then cancellations of concerts, Celine Dion revealed that she was suffering from stiff person syndrome. A rare neurological disease – the first symptoms of which were felt 17 years ago! – which causes violent spasms. Said like that, it could almost seem trivial. In reality, it is quite the opposite. These crises are frighteningly intense.
The chilling images of a Celine Dion spasm attack
“It could last a while, it could last hours.
You can break ribs from twisting and spasms. It’s quite painful“, detailed Céline Dion to CBC News. And Amanda Piquet, her doctor, added in an extract broadcast on TF1’s 20 Heures on June 16: “These are stiffnesses that generally occur in the upper body, therefore in the chest, stomach, back and lower back. There are of course muscles all around the vocal cords. When they contract, it forms spasms and
these muscles can no longer function normally.“
They can occur anywhere, at any time and leave the main interested party in a state of great suffering, writhing in pain. Moments that Prime Video witnessed and that Céline Dion agreed to keep in her documentary. These sufferings that we could not imagine then jump out at us. It’s violent, chilling, shocking, poignantas reported The Parisian
who was able to watch the film.
“The pain makes you moan for a long time then cry” Celine Dion
The singer then returned from a studio session, happy to have managed to sing as she wanted. She then met her sports doctor for a relaxation session. But suddenly, his body started to tense up. “It’s first his feet that stiffen, then his whole body. The practitioner gently moves her to the side, takes her pulse, very strong.
She has a fixed, empty look, her mouth open.. Her lip moves on its own, the pain makes her moan for a long time, then cry“, detail our colleagues.
His managers observe the scene, as helpless as they are worried. “If she has further spasms, we call for help“, reassures the doctor. He then administers to the singer a nasal spray intended to lower her heart rate. “Welcome back“, he says to his famous patient when the crisis begins to fade away. A sequence that sends shivers down your spine. Céline Dion is a prisoner of these crises.
