In her new documentary, Céline Dion is giving her fans the full scope of what her life is like right now. The Canadian superstar was diagnosed with stiff person syndrome in 2022, forcing her to put her career and public life on hold as she deals with her health. After spending most of 2023 out of the public eye, Céline has slowly begun making appearances again. This spring, it was announced that Céline would be the subject of a documentary that gives fans a more intimate look at the singer’s life than ever before. Much of the documentary deals with how she lives her everyday life while also learning to live with her new diagnosis, including one particularly harrowing moment with her illness on full display.
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The documentary shows Céline's severe medical crisis.
The documentary I Am: Céline Dion, which releases this week on Prime Video, shows Céline while her body is in an extended full-body spasm due to her stiff person syndrome. It is difficult to watch the footage because she is so obviously in pain, but the film’s director kept it in to really give Céline’s fans a true understanding of what she’s working through.
It is a moment of brutal honesty.
In the scene, Céline is doing physical therapy after recording her new song “Love Again.” Soon, she starts to have cramping in one of her feet, which quickly becomes a full-body spasm. She is unable to speak, to move her body, or even to change the expression on her face, which is contorted in pain. Her physical therapist explains that she is “overstimulated” before turning her on her side while her whole body begins to twitch.
As the spasm continues, Céline wails in pain as her face is covered in silent tears.
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Céline isn't letting stiff person syndrome keep her from her passion for singing.
“Every time something like this happens, it makes me feel so embarrassed,” Céline says after she has gone through the spasm. “I don't know how to express it, you know, to not have control over yourself.”
Her physical therapist shares that it was likely her singing earlier that triggered her symptoms, which causes her to wonder if she’ll ever be able to properly perform again. “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?” she asks, with her PT telling her, “This is not the end of your journey.”
The film's director grappled with filming the medical crisis.
Irene Taylor, the film’s director, called filming the medical crisis “the most extraordinarily uncomfortable moment in my life” in a recent interview with Hoda Kotb.
“I had this uncertainty whether to keep filming or not. But [Céline] gave me the strength to just keep going. We had been filming together for many months at that point, so she had really trained me, 'Just keep going. If I have to stop you, I’ll stop you.'”
Céline understood the importance of leaving the scene in.
“Her body was enduring something that was unimaginable, and I wasn’t sure if she was aware of it,” Taylor explained. “I wasn’t sure if she was going to survive it. It’s really hard to even sit next to her and talk out loud about it because it was very intense.”
Céline reassured her, telling Taylor, “I just want you to know that you did the right thing. I’m sorry that it was hard.”
