Céline Dion has had an extraordinary career, and she remains one of the most beloved female vocalists of all time.
However, she has been facing serious health challenges recently, and many were unaware of the severity of her condition until she experienced a seizure while filming a documentary.
Dion suffers from a rare neurological disorder known as stiff person syndrome, which is the focus of her latest documentary, I Am: Céline Dion, released in late June on Prime Video.
For the documentary, the superstar granted filmmaker Irene Taylor unrestricted access to her life. This included a particularly poignant moment near the film’s conclusion where Dion experiences a severe, full-body spasm due to her illness, which is especially hard to watch.
This syndrome is an autoimmune disorder characterized by muscle stiffness and painful spasms. Sadly, Dion has been struggling with this condition for the past 17 years, which has affected her singing.
Initially, Taylor was reluctant to film the seizure, but when she showed the footage to Dion, the singer wanted it included in the documentary.
During a physical therapy session aimed at helping her condition and hopefully regaining some of her health, Dion’s foot unexpectedly begins to cramp. Within minutes, her entire body stiffens and becomes immobile, rendering her unable to communicate or even change her facial expression.
“I could just see this stiffness that was not like the flowing, lithe dancer that I had been filming for several months doing her physical therapy. Within a couple of minutes, she was moaning in pain,” Taylor told The New York Times.
As Dion’s limbs and lips start to twitch and she remains motionless and curled up, Taylor is unsure if the singer is even able to breathe “because she was moaning and then she stopped. … I was very panicked. I was looking around the room, and I saw that her therapist called for her head of security. Her bodyguard immediately came into the room. I could see right away these two men were there to take care of her and they were trained to do it.”
Once the spasms, which typically last 30 minutes to an hour, stop, Dion can again sit and speak.
“Every time something like this happens, it makes me feel so embarrassed,” she says. “I don’t know how to express it, you know, to not have control over yourself.”
According to her physical therapist, the seizure could have been triggered by “over-stimulation” from the earlier singing session.
“If I can’t get stimulated by what I love, then I’m going to go on stage, and you’re going to put the pulse oximeter on me and turn me on my back?” the singer wonders.
You can take a look at the heartbreaking footage here.
We truly hope that Dion will regain control of her health and be able to do what she does best: perform for her fans.
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