Celine Dion Reveals How Agonizing Battle With Stiff Person Syndrome Affects Her Voice: 'It's Like Somebody is Strangling You'
Celine Dion recently opened up and revealed how her ongoing battle with stiff person syndrome affects her voice.
June 7 2024, Published 11:45 a.m. ET
Singer Celine Dion recently opened up and revealed how her ongoing battle with stiff person syndrome affects her voice, RadarOnline.com can report.
In a devastating development to come more than two years after Dion, 56, was diagnosed with stiff person syndrome in December 2022, the My Heart Will Go On singer explained how the neurological disorder affects her ability to perform.
Dion opened up about her ongoing battle with the neurological disorder on Friday morning in a preview for her upcoming interview with host Hoda Kotb.
She revealed that she can no longer perform due to her diagnosis.
“It’s like somebody is strangling you,” Dion told Kotb ahead of the full interview on June 11. “It’s like somebody is pushing your larynx and pharynx.”
“It’s like you’re talking like that,” she continued, “and you cannot go higher or lower.”
Dion was first diagnosed with stiff person syndrome in December 2022.
The Think Twice singer also revealed that her stiff person syndrome symptoms affect her ability to do minor tasks, like walking and cooking, due to spasms brought on by the disorder.
“The spams can also be in the abdominal, can be in the spine, can be in the ribs,” she explained.
“It feels like if I point my feet, it will stay in that position,” Dion continued. “Or, if I cook – because I love to cook – my fingers, my hands will get in position.”
“It’s cramping, but it’s like in a position of like, you cannot unlock them.”
“It’s like somebody is strangling you,” Dion told Hoda Kotb.
Perhaps most shocking was the revelation that Dion has experienced broken ribs due to the sudden spasms brought on by her battle with stiff person syndrome.
“I have broken ribs at one point because sometimes, when it’s very severe, it can break some ribs as well,” the singer revealed for the first time on Friday morning.
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As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Dion’s interview with Kotb this month came more than two years after the beloved singer was first diagnosed with stiff person syndrome in December 2022.
Dion shared her shocking diagnosis in an emotional Instagram video at the time.
Dion shared her shocking diagnosis in an emotional Instagram video in December 2022.
“As you know I've always been an open book, and I wasn't ready to say anything before, but I'm ready now,” the six-time Grammy winner announced.
“Recently I have been diagnosed with a very rare neurological syndrome called stiff person syndrome,” she continued, “which affects something like one in a million people.”
Dion was ultimately forced to cancel her 2023-2024 Courage World Tour as a result of her debilitating symptoms.
As RadarOnline.com reported, the Because You Loved Me singer’s NBC News interview also came just a few days before the premiere of her upcoming new documentary, I Am: Celine Dion, on June 25.
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Dion's upcoming new documentary – "I Am: Celine Dion" – is scheduled to premiere on June 25.
Dion opened up about her battle with stiff person syndrome in a trailer for the new doc, and she vowed to “work hard every day” in the face of her devastating neurological disorder diagnosis.
“I am working hard every day, but I have to admit, it’s been a struggle,” she admitted in I Am: Celine Dion. “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,” Dion continued. “And I won’t stop. I won’t stop.”
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