‘I hid my illness for 17 years before making it public’ – Celine Dion

Canadian singer Celine Dion has shared that she hid her struggle with Stiff Person Syndrome for 17 years before revealing it to the public.

In an interview with Hoda Kotb on the Today Show this week, Dion revealed that she was secretly battling the illness while managing her late husband, Rene Angelil’s cancer battle and raising their children.

The 56-year-old singer who first revealed her diagnosis in 2022, confessed that she has been experiencing symptoms way back in 2008.

“We did not know what was going on [with me]. I did not take the time… I should have stopped, took the time to figure it out,” she said.

“And like it wasn’t enough, my husband as well is fighting for his own life.

“I had to raise my kids, I had to hide, I had to try to be a hero – while feeling my body leaving me,’ she continued. ‘[I was] holding on to my own dreams.”

The ‘Think Twice’ crooner explained that she eventually opened up about her illness because keeping it from “the people who got her to where she was” was a huge “burden”.

Celine Dion recently stated that her Stiff Person Syndrome feels like she’s “being strangled”.

She added that that she often suffers from cramps and even had broken some ribs.