Céline Dion has had quite a career, and even today, she remains on the top of the list of most famous and most appreciated female vocalists of all time.
Sadly, she has been experiencing health issues recently but not many were actually aware of the severity of her condition until she suffered a seizure while filming a documentary.
Dion suffers from a rare neurological disorder, stiff person syndrome, which is in the focus of her newest documentary I Am: Céline Dion, released in late June on Prime Video.
For the sake of the filming, the superstar allowed filmmaker Irene Taylor unrestricted access to her life, including a notably poignant moment near the film’s conclusion. In this scene, Dion experiences a severe, full-body spasm as a result of her illness, which is particularly difficult to watch.
This syndrome represents an autoimmune disorder characterized by muscle stiffness and painful spasms. Sadly, Dion has been experiencing difficulties from this condition for the last 17 years, which affected her singing.
Allegedly, Taylor was hesitant to even film the moment Dion suffered a seizure, but once she showed the video to the Because You Loved Me singer, she said she wanted it in the film.
During a physical therapy session that is intended to help her with her condition and hopefully regain part of her health, Dion’s foot unexpectedly begins to cramp. Within minutes, her entire body stiffens and becomes immobile, leaving her unable to communicate with those around her in the room. She;s not even able to change her facial expression.
“I could just see this stiffness that was not like the flowing, lithe dancer that I had been filming for several months doing her physical therapy. Within a couple of minutes, she was moaning in pain,” Taylor told The New York Times.
As Dion’s limbs and lips start to twitch and she remains motionless and curled up, Taylor is uncertain if the singer is able to breath “because she was moaning and then she stopped. … I was very panicked. I was looking around the room, and I saw that her therapist called for her head of security. Her bodyguard immediately came into the room. I could see right away these two men were there to take care of her and they were trained to do it.”
Once the spasms, which typically last 30 minutes to an hour, stop, Dion can again sit and speak.
“Every time something like this happens, it makes me feel so embarrassed,” she says. “I don’t know how to express it, you know, to not have control over yourself.”
According to her physical therapist, the seizure could have been triggered by “over-stimulation” from the earlier singing session.
“If I can’t get stimulated by what I love, then I’m going to go on stage, and you’re going to put the pulse oximeter on me and turn me on my back?” the singer wonders.
You can take a look at the heartbreaking footage here.
We truly hope that Dion would be able to regain control of her health again and that she would be able to do what she knows best; perform for her fans.