Canadian singer Celine Dion said she took life-threatening doses of medication to help ease muscle spasms so she could perform on stage. The 56-year-old revealed how she took diazepam, a drug commonly known as Valium, to help relax her "whole body" - but was not aware of the consequences. Her dependency on the doses came in the years leading up to her diagnosis of stiff person syndrome.
The incurable condition is a rare neurological disorder causing progressive muscular stiffness and spasms - and can be eased with muscle sedatives and relaxants alongside physical and occupational therapy. The music superstar, who has sold more than 250 million albums and whose hits include My Heart Will Go On, Think Twice and It's All Coming Back To Me Now, revealed her diagnosis in December 2022 and was later forced to cancel her Courage World Tour . Despite her health struggles, the singer also revealed she was determined to return to performing, admitting "I miss it".
In her first broadcast interview since her diagnosis, Dion said her body became accustomed to the medication and she would feel her symptoms again after 20 minutes - and so begin to raise her dosage. She told NBC's Today host Hoda Kotb: "I did not know, honestly, that it could kill me. "I would take, for example before a performance, 20 milligrams of Valium, and then just walking from my dressing room to backstage, it was gone already.
"You get used to it, it doesn't work." The singer revealed she was taking up to 90 milligra.