"It was a scary time."
Celine Dion's battle with stiff-person syndrome was apparently more serious than anyone knew. In an upcoming interview with Hoda Kotb, the Grammy-winner, who was diagnosed with the neurological disorder in 2022, revealed that the disease nearly killed her.
On Thursday, Kotb opened up about the details of her sit-down with the singer on Today With Hoda & Jenna, telling her co-host about the lowest point during Dion’s health journey. “Celine Dion at some point—she is now much better—but, at some point, she almost died, which is something that she says, and it was a scary time,” Kotb said, reiterating: “It was a scary time.”
She continued, "She was diagnosed with a terrible disease and, at one point, she wondered if she was going to make it, whether she was going to live through it."
Teasing that her talk with Dion further—which airs on NBC on June 11—was "very emotional," Kotb concluded on an optimistic note, adding: "We'll see where she is on her journey of coming back, but I know people are cheering her on."
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Dion’s battle with stiff-person syndrome, which has affected her voice, is being explored in the Prime Video documentary, I Am: Celine Dion. “I have been diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder,” she says in the film’s heart-breaking trailer. “And I wasn’t ready to say anything before. But I’m ready now.”
Sharing that the hardest part about the disease is her inability to perform, Dion noted, "It's not hard to do a show now, it's hard to cancel a show. I'm working hard every day, but I have to admit—it's been a struggle. I miss it so much. The people. I miss them. If I can't run, I'll walk. If I can't walk. I'll crawl. I won't stop."
I Am: Celine Dion premieres on Prime Video on June 25.