PARIS — Celine Dion will return to the stage Saturday, Sept. 12, at the Plenitude Arena in Paris after years of physical and voice therapy for Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare neurological condition that causes severe muscle spasms.
The 58-year-old singer will perform across 26 scheduled dates in Paris, with 16 shows set for September and October and 10 more planned for May.
Dion revealed her diagnosis in December 2022. She has described experiencing severe muscle spasms that can cause injuries, including broken ribs, and said the condition can make her feel as though she is being strangled.
Dion last performed a full concert six years ago. She has spent the years since her diagnosis undergoing physical and voice therapy while working to regain control of her body and voice.
Stiff Person Syndrome is a rare autoimmune disorder that affects an estimated one or two people per million and can cause muscle spasms and seizures.
Dion said in a 2024 NBC interview that she intended to return to the stage even if she had to use her hands to communicate.
She made a surprise return to live performance later that year during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, where she performed Edith Piaf’s “Hymn to Love” from the Eiffel Tower.
Dion did not perform a full concert at the time because she remained uncertain about her ability to sustain a performance. Some observers also questioned whether she had lip-synced during the Olympics appearance.
Since then, Dion has continued physical training, including ballet and Pilates, several times a week, along with voice therapy.
“She is utterly determined,” French biographer Elisabeth Reynaud told AFP.
Years of managing the condition
Dion has said she spent years managing symptoms before publicly revealing her diagnosis. Concert cancellations in 2021 and 2022 fueled speculation about her health.
She has said she took increasing doses of the tranquilizer Valium to help her perform and later learned that the medication could put her life at risk.
“I did not understand that I could have gone to bed and stopped breathing,” Dion told People magazine in 2024.
Dion has also credited her three sons as a major motivation for her recovery. She has 15-year-old twins and an older son in his 20s with her late husband, music producer René Angélil.
Angélil discovered Dion when she was 12 after receiving a cassette recording from her mother. He died from throat cancer in 2016.
Dion said she now feels ready to perform again and trust her voice.
“I’m going to come onstage because I’m ready. And my vocal cords will not scare me, because I’m going to be ready, and I’m going to hit those notes,” she told NBC.