On Monday night, Celine Dion was deeply moved at the premiere of her new documentary, “I Am: Celine Dion,” at Lincoln Center.
With tears in her eyes, Dion expressed her gratitude to the audience after a long standing ovation, saying, “I have so much gratitude to welcome all of you this evening.” She added, “This is by far the biggest crowd I’ve had in a few years.”
Dion became emotional multiple times before the premiere.
Apart from a brief Grammy Awards appearance in February, Dion has stayed mostly out of the public eye since revealing in 2021 that she had been diagnosed with stiff person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder causing severe muscle spasms, affecting about one in a million people.
During her 10-minute speech at Alice Tully Hall, Dion acknowledged her neurologist, Dr. Amanda Picquet, who was in the audience. She praised Dr. Piquet for replacing her fear with hope by finding ways to manage her condition.
Dion announced the creation of the Celine Dion Foundation Endowed Chair in Autoimmune Neurology at the University of Colorado to support Dr. Piquet’s research.
The documentary, directed by Irene Taylor and available on Prime Video from June 25, provides a raw look at Dion’s battle with stiff person syndrome and her efforts to return to the stage. It depicts her health struggles and her determination to regain her powerful voice.
Dion was particularly emotional when speaking about her fans, expressing disbelief at her fortune to have them in her life. Her eldest son, Rene-Charles Angelil, brought her tissues as she thanked the audience from the bottom of her heart, describing the documentary as her love letter to them and expressing hope to see them all again soon.
