Celine Dion: I Am Excited to Return to the Stage

Iconic singer Celine Dion will hold 10 performances in France this fall, stating she is eager to reunite with fans after a six-year hiatus from performing due to a rare illness.

On Instagram on March 30, Celine Dion moved fans deeply by confirming that she will go on tour again after years of battling a rare disease. In her latest video, the singer stated that she will launch 10 concerts titled Celine Dion Paris 2026 at the Paris La Défense Arena in France, running from September 12 to October 14.

She made the announcement on the occasion of her 58th birthday, calling it the greatest gift of her life. Also in the video, Celine Dion thanked her fans for always showering her with love and support. The artist stated that she is currently healthy and eager to meet her audience again.

“Over the past many years, with every day that passes, I have felt your prayers and your support. This year, I have the opportunity to meet and perform in front of everyone once again in Paris,” the legendary singer said.

Ticket sales for the show will begin online on April 7. According to the AP, Celine Dion will perform her hit songs in both English and French. A week before the singer made her announcement, the newspaper La Presse reported that she was about to launch a concert series in France. Although the artist’s representatives had not confirmed it at the time, the news outlet stated that a promotional campaign for the event was underway, with numerous posters featuring the names of the diva’s classic songs, such as The Power of Love and Pour que tu m’aimes encore, appearing in Paris since March 23.

The new concert series marks the diva’s comeback after a six-year hiatus from touring. In 2020, she postponed her international Courage World Tour due to the impacts of Covid-19, and subsequently canceled it entirely due to health issues. In 2022, the artist revealed that she was suffering from Stiff-Person Syndrome (SPS)—a very rare autoimmune-related movement disorder that affects the central nervous system (the brain or spinal cord). This is a rare disease that impacts the singer’s mobility and vocal cords. She recounted her battle to overcome the severe illness in the documentary I Am: Celine Dion (2024).

Although she has not been touring recently, Celine Dion has occasionally made appearances at several major events. In 2024, the artist touched the hearts of fans when she made a surprise appearance at the Grammy Awards to present the Album of the Year award to Taylor Swift. A few months later, she stunned the public by performing at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, delivering a rendition of the French song Hymne A L’Amour by Edith Piaf. In November 2024, she sang her hit The Power of Love again during the Elie Saab fashion show in Saudi Arabia.

Celine Dion, born in 1968, is a renowned Canadian vocalist. She is ranked as part of “The Vocal Trinity”—one of the three most influential divas in the world—alongside Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Celine Dion has won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year. In 2016, Billboard honored her as the Queen of Adult Contemporary music.

Alongside her massive music career, Celine Dion has also participated in acting, business, and charitable work for numerous global organizations. She is included in the list of the world’s wealthiest vocalists with a net worth of $570 million, according to Forbes. In 1994, she married her manager René Angélil, who was 26 years her senior, and together they had three sons: René-Charles, currently 25, and twins Nelson and Eddy, 16. In 2016, her husband passed away from throat cancer.

Céline Dion Reveals Diagnosis with Rare Neurological Disease Called Stiff-Person Syndrome

In an emotional Instagram video shared on Thursday, Céline Dion opened up about her health, which she says will force her to cancel and postpone a series of upcoming concert dates

Céline Dion revealed Thursday morning that she’s been diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, a rare and incurable neurological disease that can cause debilitating muscle spasms.

In a tearful video posted to her Instagram account in both English and French, the Canadian singer said her condition would force her to postpone and cancel a series of upcoming concert dates.

“I’ve been dealing with problems with my health for a long time, and it’s been really difficult for me to face these challenges and to talk about everything that I’ve been going through,” Dion, 54, wrote in the caption of the post. “It hurts me to tell you that I won’t be ready to restart my tour in Europe in February.”

“Recently, I’ve been diagnosed with a very rare neurological condition called stiff-person syndrome, which affects something like one in a million people,” she said in her video. “While we’re still learning about this rare condition, we now know that this is what has been causing all of the spasms that I’ve been having.”

The condition, according to the Stiff Person Syndrome Foundation, affects the central nervous system, specifically the brain and spinal cord. “Patients can be disabled, wheelchair-bound or bed-ridden, unable to work and care for themselves,” they say, adding that the neurological disease with autoimmune features can include symptoms like “hyper-rigidity, debilitating pain, chronic anxiety,” and muscle spasms “so violent they can dislocate joints and even break bones.”

“Unfortunately, these spasms affect every aspect of my daily life,” Dion continued. “Sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I’m used to.”

Dion — who has three sons, René-Charles, 21, and 11-year-old twins Nelson and Eddy with her late husband René Angélil — went on to note that she has “a great team of doctors working alongside me to help me get better.”

“And my precious children who are supporting me and giving me hope,” she said.

Because of her condition, Dion’s Spring 2023 shows have been rescheduled to 2024, while eight of her summer 2023 shows — previously scheduled from May 31 to July 17, 2023 — have been canceled altogether.

But the five-time Grammy winner said that she is not giving up on being able to perform again. “All I know is singing,” she said. “It’s what I’ve done all my life. And it’s what I love to do the most.”

“I’m working hard with my sports medicine therapist every day to build back my strength and my ability to perform again,” Dion added. “But I have to admit, it’s been a struggle.”

The “My Heart Will Go On” singer became even more emotional while expressing her love for her fans. “I miss you so much. I miss seeing all of you. Being on the stage. Performing for you. I always give 100 percent when I do my shows, but my condition is not allowing me to give you that right now.”

“For me to reach you again, I have no choice but to concentrate on my health at this moment,” she said of the difficult situation. “And I have hope that I’m on the road to recovery. This is my focus and I’m doing everything I can to recuperate. I want to thank you so much for your encouraging wishes of love and support on my social media. This means a lot to me.”

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“Take care of yourselves. Be well. I love you guys so much and I really hope I can see you again real soon,” she concluded, in tears. “Thank you.”

Dion first canceled her tour because of the pandemic and then again in January due to health reasons relating to this condition, as we now know. In April, she updated fans that plans for a 2022 tour would be rescheduled to 2023.

“I’m doing my very best to get back to the level that I need to be so that I can give 100% at my shows because that’s what you deserve,” she announced via video post in April.

Céline Dion Reveals Why She Shared Stiff-Person Syndrome Diagnosis: ‘Lying for Me, the Burden Was Too Much’

“I could not do it anymore,” the music icon admitted

• Céline Dion explains why she initially kept quiet about her health troubles
• “What did you want me to say? ‘I have…’ what?” Dion said on Today. “We did not know what was going on”
• Dion first started experiencing symptoms of stiff-person syndrome during her Taking Chances World Tour in 2008

Céline Dion’s decision to publicly share her diagnosis with stiff-person syndrome was one that weighed heavily on the music legend.

During a sit-down with Hoda Kotb teased on the Today show on Monday, June 10, Dion opened up about her experience with the rare neurological disorder, admitting she kept quiet about it at first because she was still trying to understand what was happening with her health.

“What did you want me to say? ‘I have…’ what?” Dion, 56, said. “We did not know what was going on.”

Dion first started experiencing symptoms of the disorder — which causes debilitating muscle spasms — during her Taking Chances World Tour in 2008. She wouldn’t go public with her diagnosis until December 2022, when she announced in an Instagram video that she was postponing a number of performances.

“I did not take the time I should have stopped, take the time to figure it out,” Dion recalled to Kotb, noting that at the time she started noticing the early signs of her condition, her late husband René Angélil was undergoing treatment for throat cancer.

“My husband as well was fighting for his own life,” she said. “I had to raise my kids, I had to hide. I had to try to be a hero.”

She was also trying to process her own emotions around her condition. “Feeling my body leaving me, holding on to my own dreams,” Dion said, sharing some of the fears that were going through her head at the time.

Eventually, Dion says she felt like she had to tell the truth. “I could not do this anymore,” she said. “Lying for me, the burden was too much. Lying to the people who got me where I am today, I could not do it anymore.”.

Dion’s interview with Kotb will air in full on Tuesday, June 11, at 10 p.m. ET.

In an earlier clip from the conversation, the five-time Grammy Award winner opened up about the effect the condition had on her voice. “It’s like somebody is strangling you. It’s like somebody is pushing your larynx/pharynx,” she said, raising her voice to demonstrate the effect. “It was like talking like that, and you cannot go high or lower.”

She went on to note that the stiffness can sometimes feel like it’s locked into place. “It feels like, if I point my feet, they will stay in [that position],” said the “Power of Love” singer. “It’s cramping but it’s like in a position where you cannot unlock them. I have broken ribs at one point because sometimes when its very severe, it can break.”

The sit-down comes ahead of I Am: Céline Dion, the Prime Video documentary that follows the Grammy-winning icon as she grapples with her rare disorder and fights to get back on stage.

“I wasn’t ready to say anything before,” Dion said in the emotional trailer, “but I’m ready now.”

“I miss it so much. The people, I miss them. If I can’t run, I’ll walk. If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl,” she adds, proclaiming that whatever it takes to take control of her health and get back on stage, “I won’t stop.”

Today airs weekdays beginning at 7 a.m. ET on NBC. I Am: Céline Dion premieres on Prime Video on June 25.