Popular Canadian singer Celine Dion revealed that she concealed her struggle with Stiff Person Syndrome for 17 years before making it public.
In a recent interview with Hoda Kotb on the Today Show, she disclosed that she had been privately battling the illness while also managing her late husband Rene Angelil’s cancer and raising their children.
The mother of three, who first announced her diagnosis in 2022, admitted that her symptoms began as early as 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 56-year-old singer revealed that she ultimately shared her illness because hiding it from “the people who got her to where she was” became a significant “burden.”
Recall that the singe recently described her experience with Stiff Person Syndrome, saying it feels like she’s “being strangled.”
She also mentioned that she often suffers from cramps and has even broken some ribs.