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

Veteran Canadian singer Celine Dion has disclosed the challenges she faces battling with Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that has affected her health.

TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that the 56-year-old opened up in an interview with Hoda Kotb on the Today Show this week

According to the singer, managing her late husband, Rene Angelil’s cancer battle and raising their children, was the reason she battled the illness secretly for years.

Celine Dion who first opened up about her ailment in 2022, disclosed that she had been experiencing symptoms way back in 2008 but was holding on to her dreams.

Celine Dion stressed that she eventually spoke about her illness because keeping it from “the people who got her to where she was” was a huge “burden”.

She said, “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.

“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, ‘[I was] holding on to my own dreams.”

Meanwhile, Celine Dion recently stated that her Stiff Person Syndrome feels like she is ‘being strangled,’ adding she often suffers from cramps and even has broken some ribs.