Céline Dion's sister is sharing an update on the singer's health amid her battle with stiff-person syndrome. According to Claudette Dion, the 55-year-old has lost control of her muscles due to the progressive neurological disorder, which affects the brain and the spinal cord. The "All by Myself" singer first revealed her diagnosis in December 2022. The disorder has since affected Céline's ability to walk and sing, which put a pause on all of her scheduled lived performance shows and tours.
“She works hard, but she doesn’t have control over her muscles,” Claudette said in an interview with 7 Jours, a French magazine. “What breaks my heart is that she’s always been disciplined. She’s always worked hard.”
"Mom always said to her: 'You will do well, you will do things as they should be done,'" her sister continued. "There’s no doubt that in our dreams and in hers, the idea is to come back to the stage. In which state? I don’t know. The vocal cords are muscles, and the heart is also a muscle.”
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Claudette went on to talk about the upsetting fact that there's not a lot of research to treat the condition. "That’s what is so upsetting to me," she said. "Since these cases are one in a million, scientists have not done that much research since it doesn’t affect that many people.”
When Céline shared her diagnosis publicly, she opened up about how it affected her daily life. “Recently I have been diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder called stiff-person syndrome, which affects something like one in a million people,” she explained through an Instagram video. “While we’re still learning about this rare condition, we now know this is what’s been causing all of the spasms that I’ve been having.”
The singer, who has been out of the public eye for most of the past three years, was recently seen at Katy Perry's Las Vegas residency at the Resorts World Theatre in November. She was also seen earlier that week at an NHL hockey game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
John Katsilometes, the leading entertainment columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, noted that Céline’s public appearances further pointed to the hope that the singer will be able to return to the stage for her Resorts World residency at some point.
“Dion was seen dancing throughout the show, giving fans and officials more confidence she can return to the stage in 2024,” the writer wrote. But with the current news shared by her sister, many are unsure of how likely that is now.
Fans are devastated by recent news of the singer's condition.
"It absolutely breaks my heart to see her going through this!!!" one person commented. "She is so much more that just an AMAZING singer, she's also a sweetheart of a person!!! That's why we all LOVE HER!!!!!!!!"
