Celine Dion has been pictured in public for the first time in more than three years, despite being battling a terrible disease.
Last year, the Canadian music queen, 55, disclosed she had stiff-person syndrome and postponed her forthcoming tour dates and booked concerts to focus on her health.
After a brief absence from the limelight, the singer reappeared on Monday at a hockey game in Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
She had come to support her hometown club, the Montreal Canadiens, who were playing the Vegas Golden Knights.
Despite the setback, Celine went to the locker room with her sons René-Charles, 22, and Nelson and Eddy, 13-year-old twins.
‘Nice visit at our game in Vegas yesterday,’ wrote the club’s VP of Communications Chabntal Macabee alongside photos of herself with the star.
‘Thank you @celinedion for your great generosity. The whole team was very happy to meet you and your family.’
Celine grinned and posed with her arm around Chantal while dressed chicly yet comfortably in a beige fine-knit loungewear outfit and a cream bodywarmer.
Her boys, mostly dressed in team gear, joined her and posed with a few players.
Quand des emblèmes du Québec se rencontrent à Las Vegas…@celinedion 🤝 Habs#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/VUodJPWPDx
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) October 31, 2023
She shared them with her husband and manager René Angélil, a Montreal Canadiens supporter who died in 2016 at the age of 73.
In a video clip published on the team’s X (previously known as Twitter) profile, the mother-of-three met coach Martin St. Louis with a friendly embrace and hug while they joked together.
‘Let’s squeeze in, let’s not be shy,’ she was also heard saying as they posed for group pictures, quipping: ‘You smell great.’
She then added to the players as she left, ‘You guys stay healthy, okay?’
Celine was last seen out on March 8, 2020, just before global lockdowns were implemented to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic.
She was photographed in New York City wearing a gorgeous pink flowery skirt and clutching a bunch of flowers.
Celine revealed her condition to followers for the first time in December, revealing them she had been diagnosed with a rare autoimmune movement disorder affecting the central nervous system.
There is presently no known treatment for the ailment, which is supposed to cause people to become ‘human statues’ as their bodies become increasingly stiff.
Speaking in a video at the time, she said: ‘Recently I’ve been diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder called stiff-person syndrome which affects something like one in a million people.
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‘While we’re still learning about this rare condition, we now know this is what’s been causing all of the spasms that I’ve been having.
‘Unfortunately, these spasms affect every aspect of my daily life sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I’m used to.
‘For me to reach you again I have no choice but to concentrate on my health at this moment and I have hope that I’m on the road to recovery. This is my focus and I’m doing everything I can to recuperate.’
In September, Celine’s sister Claudette provided an update, calling her sister a “strong woman” who is “doing everything” to get better.
‘It’s an illness we know so little about,’ she said of the symptoms. ‘There are spasms – they’re impossible to control.
‘You know who people often jump up in the night because of a cramp in the leg or the calf? It’s a bit like that, but in all muscles.
‘There’s little we can do to support her, to alleviate her pain.’
Claudette added to Hello! Canada that the family were ‘crossing our fingers that researchers will find a remedy for this awful illness’.
What is stiff-person syndrome?
Stiff-person syndrome (SPS) is a rare autoimmune movement disorder that affects the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord).
SPS is characterised by fluctuating muscle rigidity in the trunk and limbs and a heightened sensitivity to stimuli such as noise, touch, and emotional distress, which can set off muscle spasms. Stiff-person syndrome is extremely rare.
Only about one out of every one million people have been diagnosed with this syndrome. Twice as many women have stiff person syndrome as men. Symptoms can occur at any age but usually develop between ages 30 and 60.
