As one of the 1 million women living with an autoimmune disease in Australia, I feel an unbridled sense of joy and inspiration from Celine Dion’s triumphant comeback.
To have a glamorous, kind, vocal powerhouse represent what it means to live with an autoimmune disease is groundbreaking.
The message she sends the world is subliminal, unaffected, and brave.
In her documentary, I Am: Celine Dion, released in 2024, she captured the hidden realities of chronic illness. The suffering, pain, and isolation, and most devastatingly, the loss of the physical capacity that had once defined her.
The courage it must have taken to sing on camera in her raspy, cracked voice, decimated by years of battling Stiff Person Syndrome, is unfathomable.
There is a moment when she is walking around a storehouse reminiscing over custom-made costumes. At the end of the segment, she says quietly in French, “It’s becoming painful to walk” and exits the screen.
She was dressed beautifully, walking and talking normally, and watching her, you’d have no idea that she was functionally limited. She powerfully portrayed the truth that many of us live with;
What you see, is not what I am.
In that moment, the enormity of what Celine has done, begins to sink in.
Her residency in Paris has been about Celine and her fans, but it has also normalised the life-altering nature of autoimmune disease.
In a recent interview with Harper’s Bazaar, she openly discussed the complex treatment regimen of regular physical therapy, vocal training, medications and immunotherapy, which were required for her to return to the stage.
Even more staggering are the rave reviews of her recent performances, celebrating her imperfections.
Neil McCormick from The Telegraph wrote “Her vocals wobbled dangerously, as if about to crack or collapse. But she was gaining confidence with every moment back on stage.” He concluded “I honestly think I prefer this less superhuman Céline. Her voice is still great, but a bit more raw and real, with a rougher tone, less smoothness in the runs and more edge.”
There is power, in a woman baring her imperfections and incapacitation to the world, and receiving love and accolades in return.
With radiant joie de vivre, Celine has shown the world that – just because you can’t be who you once were, there is no reason that you can’t still be.
For women living with autoimmune diseases, we cannot hear that enough.
Bravo Celine.