Celine Dion Started Noticing Symptoms of Stiff-Person Syndrome as Her Cancer-Stricken Husband René Angélil Was 'Fighting for His Own Life'

Celine Dion is opening more and more about her stiff-person syndrome diagnosis, but she admitted she should have gotten herself checked out much earlier on.

"I did not take the time I should have stopped, take the time to figure it out," the singer, 56, 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, René Angélil, 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."

The "I'm Alive" songstress, who shares René-Charles, 23, and twins Nelson and Eddy, 13, with the late star, was also trying to process 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 couldn't keep her illness to herself. "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."

As OK! previously reported, Dion, who is recovering and not touring at this time, 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.”

“It feels like if I point my feet, it will stay in [that position],” the Canada native continued. “Or, if I cook — because I love to cook — my fingers, my hands will get in position. It’s cramping, but it’s like in a position of like, you cannot unlock them.”

Dion even admitted she's “broken ribs at one point. Sometimes, when it’s very severe, it can break some ribs.”

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Dion will also tell more of her story in her new documentary, I Am: Celine Dion, which premieres on Prime Video on June 25.

“It’s not hard to do a show, you know. It’s hard to cancel a show,” Dion said, referring to how she had to cut her tour short due to her illness. “I’m working hard everyday. But I have to admit, it’s been a struggle. I miss it so much. The people, I miss them. If I can’t run, I’ll walk. If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl. I won’t stop.”