When the time is right, Céline Dion will return to the stage.
In a new interview with Vogue France, the powerhouse vocalist, 56, opened up about living with her stiff-person syndrome diagnosis and revealed her thoughts about when she may be able to start performing again.
“I can’t answer that… Because for four years I’ve been saying to myself that I’m not going back, that I’m ready, that I’m not ready,” Dion told the outlet. “As things stand, I can’t stand here and say to you: ‘Yes, in four months.’ I don’t know… My body will tell me. On the other hand, I don’t just want to wait.”
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The “I’m Alive” singer continued, “It’s morally hard to live from day to day. It’s hard, I’m working very hard and tomorrow will be even harder. Tomorrow is another day. But there’s one thing that will never stop, and that’s the will. It’s the passion. It’s the dream. It’s the determination.”
In late 2022, Dion revealed she was diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, a rare and incurable neurological disease that can cause debilitating muscle spasms and affects the central nervous system, specifically the brain and spinal cord, according to the Stiff Person Syndrome Foundation.
An insider told PEOPLE last year that Dion was “doing everything she can” to be healthy enough to perform live again. In the Vogue France interview, she spoke about her day-to-day experience with the illness and how she’s working to “be the best I can be.”
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“I haven’t beat the disease, as it’s still within me and always will be. I hope that we’ll find a miracle, a way to cure it with scientific research, but for now I have to learn to live with it. So that’s me, now with stiff-person syndrome,” she explained.
“Five days a week I undergo athletic, physical and vocal therapy. I work on my toes, my knees, my calves, my fingers, my singing, my voice,” said Dion. “I have to learn to live with it now and stop questioning myself. At the beginning I would ask myself: why me? How did this happen? What have I done? Is this my fault?”
The musician last toured in 2020 and rescheduled many dates following the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset, though the rescheduled shows were later canceled due to health complications related to her stiff-person syndrome diagnosis.
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“Life doesn’t give you any answers. You just have to live it! I have this illness for some unknown reason,” added Dion, whose health journey will be chronicled in the upcoming Prime Video documentary I Am: Céline Dion.
“The way I see it, I have two choices. Either I train like an athlete and work super hard, or I switch off and it’s over, I stay at home, listen to my songs, stand in front of my mirror and sing to myself,” she continued. “I’ve chosen to work with all my body and soul, from head to toe, with a medical team. I want to be the best I can be. My goal is to see the Eiffel Tower again!”