[VIDÉO] Sunday interview on TVA: “It wasn’t living, it wasn’t even dying, it was worse than that” – Céline Dion

Céline Dion wanted to regain control of her story by opening the doors of her house to the documentary team I am: Celine Dionproduced by Amazon MGM Studios, she explains to Jean-Philippe Dion in an excerpt from the only interview in French in North America, which will be broadcast this Sunday on TVA.

“I decided not to let people say, through the newspapers, in front of my children and the public, that I am dead. What I was experiencing, I had no diagnosis, I could no longer sing, I could no longer walk, I stood on all the chairs in the house, the counters, it was not living, it was not not even dying, it was worse than that. What is it like to be waiting for? says the singer, who suffers from stiff person syndrome, an incurable but treatable neurological disorder.

In several extracts from the special Céline breaks the silenceCéline Dion appears both moving and fragile, but Jean-Philippe Dion noted that a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since his last tête-à-tête with her on the show Unlimited access.

“The Céline in front of me was not the same one that I had seen seven years ago and with whom I had walked in the streets of New York,” he said, emphasizing in passing her “extreme kindness ” and the fact that she was “in good spirits, but visibly affected by illness.”

In an interview, she also said: “I could have stopped breathing, I could have died”; “my children have already lost their father, I don’t want them to be afraid of losing their mother”, or “If I want to return on stage, I have to understand what is happening to me, what that is happening?”

Trust

As Céline and Jean-Philippe Dion have established a relationship of trust since filming the documentary Celine Dion around the worldcovering the world tour Taking Chancesthe host was touched that the singer confided in him about her years of suffering, she who has lived with spasms and stiffness linked to stiff person syndrome since 2008. She only spoke about it in December 2022 in a video that went around the world.

Jean-Philippe Dion only had 20 minutes, go, to chat with Céline Dion in a Lake Las Vegas hotel on May 21. That day, the artist held interviews with international media.

“There are plenty of revelations in the interview. I couldn’t believe that Celine Dion shared with me her secrets about the fact that she hid the truth from the public about the fact that she may have been medicating herself in the wrong way for years,” said he said, referring to revelations that she consumed, sometimes in large quantities, Valium, a muscle relaxant, to relieve her symptoms.

Disturbing scenes

The Oscar-nominated director, Irene Taylor, whom Jean-Philippe Dion met in Las Vegas, had privileged access to the daily life of the international star for the documentary, the initiative of which remains that of Céline. One day, while at the singer’s house, she witnessed with fear one of her acute attacks.

“In this scene, she is in full crisis, curled up on herself, screaming in pain and she is nonverbal. All her life, we have sought to magnify Céline and show her at the height of her beauty and glory. There, we are in the opposite, we are in something extremely raw. Honestly, it sucks. We’ve never seen Céline like that,” mentioned Jean-Philippe, who was obviously able to watch the documentary first in order to prepare for the interview. “It’s shocking,” he added.

When the 56-year-old singer revealed that she noticed the first symptoms of stiff person syndrome during the tour Taking Chancesunaware of what she had, Jean-Philippe Dion made connections, he who had accompanied the Quebec diva on the road at that time as a content producer.

“When we followed her on a world tour, we sometimes saw that there were days when she was not doing so well. Even she didn’t know that it was the beginning of stiff person syndrome,” he told the QMI Agency.

Two excerpts from Céline Dion’s interview will be revealed this Thursday, including the one in this article. The second will be presented first at Sweety saltyfrom 6:30 p.m.

The interview with Céline Dion will be broadcast this Sunday at 8 p.m., on TVA and TVA+.