Celine Dion Says She Was Using Potentially Deathly Doses Of Valium, Promises To Get ‘Back Onstage, Even If I Have To Crawl’

Singer Celine Dion said she is determined to return to the stage despite her battle with stiff person syndrome. 

The singer, 56, opened up about her health struggles. In 2022, she revealed she had been diagnosed with a neurological disorder that causes muscle rigidity, spasms, mobility issues and shortness of breath. It has also affected her vocal control.

“I’m gonna go back onstage, even if I have to crawl,” she told Today host Hoda Kotb on Tuesday. “Even if I have to talk with my hands. I will. I will. I am Celine Dion. Because today my voice will be heard for the first time, not just because I have to, or because I need to. It’s because I want to. And I miss it.”

Dion said her symptoms began in the 2000s and affected her daily. 

“I was going down, down, down. It took my whole life,” she told People. “But it’s like if my kids are rollerblading, for example, and one of their ankles is hurting. They don’t want to tell me because I’m going to say, ‘Well, take a break from rollerblading.’ I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to stay onstage. I wanted to be brave instead of smart. That was wrong.”

While speaking with Kotb, Dion said there was one night she performed in Germany in June 2008 when she couldn’t move her voice as she usually does during her vocal warm-ups. She gave a shortened performance that night.

“I didn’t know, honestly, that it could kill me. I would take, like, for example, before a performance, 20 milligrams of Valium, and then just walking from my dressing room to backstage; it was gonna already,” Dion said.

As her tolerance increased, she was up to 90 milligrams per day – a potentially lethal dose – and was sometimes forced to delay or cancel shows. In 2020, Dion finally decided to stop performing and focus on her health.

Since announcing her diagnosis in 2022, Dion hasn’t been seen in public often. However, this year, she presented Taylor Swift with the Album of the Year award at the Grammys.

A documentary about Dion’s life, I Am: Celine Dion, will arrive on Prime Video on June 25.