Celine Dion has admitted that she first noticed signs of declining health almost two decades ago.
In her new documentary, I Am Celine Dion, she describes how a simple vocal exercise gave her a terrifying insight into what was going on inside her body. The symptoms then overwhelmed her more and more before she was diagnosed with stiff face syndrome, the Mirror reported.
"You know, it's a 17-year-old thing, 17 years ago I started having spasms in my voice, that's how it all started.
One morning I woke up and had breakfast and after I had breakfast my voice started breaking and it startled me a bit. I couldn't sound check too long, warm up too long, but if you don't warm up too long, you can hurt yourself," the star said.
"So I was scared, I didn't know what to do. And today the diagnosis. Stiff face syndrome. (SSL). It's in the muscles, in the nerves, in the tendons, you can't see anything. Because you can't see," Dion added.
The singer also revealed that she took high doses of Valium to try to treat CLS, which "could have killed her" as a result. Celine told how she struggled to keep singing for her fans as her symptoms worsened, leading her to take high doses of the drug to try to fight the disease.
"I was taking 80-90 mg of Valium a day. It's just one drug. I don't want to sound dramatic, but I could have died. I took these drugs because I had to walk. I had to be able to swallow. I needed drugs to function. One more pill, two more pills. Too many pills. The show must go on," the star said.
Celine also described how she started lying to hide her devastating diagnosis from her fans as she continued to lose her ability to sing and perform.
"When I had to cancel shows, you know we had to tell the audience why. The people why. You know, I lie. I can't lie anymore. From a sinus infection to an ear infection and whatever. Sometimes I would point the microphone to the audience and make them sing it. There were times when we had to stop the show, and I never came back. The lie is too heavy," added the legendary singer.
The iconic singer, 56, was diagnosed with the life-changing condition in 2022 and has withdrawn from the public eye while coming to terms with the diagnosis. The rare neurological disorder involves symptoms including muscle stiffness and spasms that can worsen over time. | BGNES
