Celine Dion Admits She Could 'Barely Walk at One Point' Amid Stiff-Person Syndrome Battle: 'I Was Missing Living'

Celine Dion is trying to stay strong for her three kids —René-Charles, 23, and 13-year-old twins Nelson and Eddy — whom she shares with late husband René Angélil as she battles stiff-person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder.

"I barely could walk at one point, and I was missing very much living. My kids started to notice. I was like, 'Okay, they already lost a parent. I don't want them to be scared,'" the 56-year-old singer told People in a new interview published on Tuesday, June 11, referring to Angélil dying from throat cancer in 2016. "I let them know, 'You lost your dad, [but] mom has a condition and it's different. I'm not going to die. It's something that I'm going to learn to live with."

Now, the "My Heart Will Go On" songstress will speak out more about what she's been going through in her new Prime Video documentary, I Am: Celine Dion, which releases on June 25.

"I miss it so much. The people, I miss them," Dion, who was forced to cancel her tour due to not feeling well, shared. "If I can't run, I'll walk. If I can't walk, I'll crawl ... I won't stop."

As OK! previously reported, Dion admitted she was experiencing symptoms early on that she ignored.

"I did not take the time I should have stopped, take the time to figure it out," the Canada native told Hoda Kotb in an interview that will air on Tuesday, June 11, adding that when she was having issues, she was taking care of her late husband, who was undergoing treatment for throat cancer.

"My husband as well was fighting for his own life," she said. "I had to raise my kids, I had to hide. I had to try to be a hero."

At the same time, Dion was trying to understand what was happening to her. "Feeling my body leaving me, holding on to my own dreams," the mom-of-three said.

Dion then realized she needed to explain what was going on. "I could not do this anymore," she said. "Lying for me, the burden was too much. Lying to the people who got me where I am today, I could not do it anymore."

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As OK! previously reported, Dion admitted the disease has taken a toll on her.

It’s “like somebody’s strangling you,” Dion, who shared her diagnosis in 2022, said. “It’s like somebody’s pushing your larynx, pharynx, this way.”

The “My Heart Will Go On” artist — who last performed in 2019 — continued, “It’s like you’re talking like that, and you cannot go higher or lower.”

Dion added that the rare neurological disorder gives her muscle spasms that can be “abdominal, can be in the spine, can be in the ribs.”