Celine Dion shares her struggles in emotional Prime Video movie I Am: Celine Dion

What did you miss?

In I Am: Celine Dion, Celine Dion wiped away tears as she discussed lying to fans before she felt ready to share her Stiff Person Syndrome diagnosis. She said: “The lie is too heavy now.”

It was in 2022 that the My Heart Will Go On hitmaker publicly told the world she had Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare neurological condition that most commonly causes muscle stiffness and painful spasms which get worse over time.

Dion had completed the first 52 dates of the Courage World Tour in North America before the Covid pandemic hit. As she revealed her diagnosis in 2022, she rescheduled the European leg of her Courage World Tour but in May last year Dion cancelled all of her remaining tour dates for 2023 and 2024 as she continues to be treated.

In emotional scenes from I Am: Celine Dion, the singer shared her heartache at lying to her fans and that she had been suffering with symptoms for years before she finally was “ready” to tell the world about her rare neurological condition that was stopping her from being able to perform.

What, how and why?

She said in a tearful piece to camera: “When I had to cancel shows we have to tell the crowd and the people why. Lying, I can’t lie anymore.”

The singer admitted there were moments where she said she “cheated” as she blamed the microphone and moments where she had to stop the show because she couldn’t continue to perform.

She added: “From a sinus infection to an ear infection to a whatever. Sometimes I would point my microphone to the audience and make them sing it. There’s moments where I cheated.

“I tapped on the microphone like it was the microphones fault. I did what my mum said, I didn’t flinch. There are also moments where we had to stop the show. Quick change [she clicks her fingers] and I never came back.” She concluded: “The lie is too heavy now.”

She also explained in the movie: “It’s not hard to do a show, it’s hard to cancel a show. If somebody sees me having a good time for a moment with my family and I was supposed to be on stage and they had a ticket that night they have the right to come to me and say hey.”

Earlier in the documentary, Dion explained how she had managed to keep performing initially by “elevating” her medicine as she was determined that “the show must go on”. Now at this telling point in I Am: Celine Dion, we see behind the scenes of Dion’s 2022 announcement about her condition.