Celine Dion has said she is “so full of joy” after a memorable comeback performance at the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris.
Dion performed for the first time since revealing she suffers from stiff person syndrome (SPS).
The 56-year-old sang from the first stage of the Eiffel Tower as an estimated one billion people watched the elaborate opening of the Olympics on TV.
Dion hadn’t performed since 2021, when she cancelled her Las Vegas residency due to health concerns, before revealing her SPS diagnosis in December 2022 and scrapping a world tour.
Dion sang Edith Piaf’s L’Hymne A L’Amour. Pic: Reuters
Last month, Dion revealed she had previously taken life-threatening doses of diazepam to help ease spasms so she could take to the stage.
SPS is a rare disorder that causes progressive muscular stiffness.
The singer has said it can trigger spasms so strong they can break ribs and feel like strangulation of the throat.
Dion performed on the first stage of the iconic tower. Pic: Reuters
After her rendition in Paris on Friday, Dion said on Instagram she was “so full of joy to be back in one of my favourite cities”.
She appeared to empathise with the athletes’ own struggles, paying tribute to their “stories of sacrifice an determination, pain and perseverance”.
On X, the singer said she was “humbled… to sing such a special French song – a song to honour the French people and their tremendous history of art, music, and theatre”.
The superstar put a sublime end to an elaborate opening ceremony. Pic: AP
Dion said she had “brushed up on some old skills” and “rehearsed tirelessly to study a joyful French dance” to go with her performance.
“I bet you didn’t know I used to dance at a ’60s French party on the lower east side when I was first starting out,” she added.
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Lady Gaga rehearsing along the Seine ahead of the opening ceremony. Pic: PA
Earlier in the ceremony US singer Lady Gaga surprised viewers by singing in French during the classic Mon Truc En Plume.
Dion, whose hits include My Heart Will Go On, Think Twice, Because You Loved Me, and It’s All Coming Back To Me Now, has sold more than 250 million albums, earning five Grammys and two Oscars.
Her struggles with SPS were documented in a 2024 documentary I Am: Celine Dion, in which she spoke about her desire to perform again.
