Celine Dion knew something wasn’t right with her body for more than a decade before she received a diagnosis. In a May 23 interview with , the singer, who now knows she has , recalled the early signs and symptoms of the rare neurological disorder. It was 2008 and Dion was on her Taking Chances World Tour.
“Quite rapidly, I was having difficulty controlling my voice,” Dion said. A visit to the otolaryngologist, or the ENT, found no abnormalities. “They looked at (my vocal cords) from every angle, and they said it was pristine,” said Dion.
So, she kept going. First, came a Las Vegas residency and then five more tours. During that time, she noticed her muscles stiffening and she needed support while walking.
More than 10 years later, with the onset of COVID in 2020, Dion, forced to slow down like the rest of the world, was afforded the time to finally get some answers. “When the pandemic arrived, I said to myself, the universe makes no mistakes, and I will take this time — this opportunity — to search,” Dion told Vogue. After additional testing, doctors diagnosed Dion with the disorder that causes stiffness and spasms in the muscles for which there’s no cure.
Symptoms of stiff person syndrome typically begin in the upper body, according to the . As it progresses, symptoms typically move to the lower body, making it difficult to walk and increasing the risk of falling. “It probably sounds very strange to say this to you, but when I was diagnosed, I was happy.
