Céline Dion addressed her fans for the first time after a long while during the premiere of her documentary, I Am: Céline Dion, at the Alice Tully Hall on June 17, 2024, in New York City, New York.
According to Billboard, Dion received a standing ovation from the crowd after the screening. She then addressed her fans in a tearful speech.
"Thank you to all of you, from the bottom of my heart, for being part of my journey. This movie is my love letter to each of you," Dion said. "I hope to see you all again very, very soon."
Dion last addressed her fans when she announced her diagnosis last December 2022.
"We now know this is what's been causing all of the spasms that I've been having," she revealed at the time. "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."
Before the release of her documentary, Dion talked to Hoda Kotb of Today and recalled the struggles she had experienced in the past years. In fact, at one point, she even had to lower her vocal register to keep up.
"I went on stage and I started to sound more nasal," she remembered one of her previous performances. "I could say, 'It's a little cold starting' or 'It's the third show in a row.' 'You're working too hard.' But the thing is, it was different. I started to feel like the body was more rigid."
Dion revealed that as early as her 2008 Taking Chances World Tour, she had already started experiencing the symptoms of the syndrome.
"I said to my assistants and to my people, 'I don't know if I can do the show,'" she recounted. "I was very, very, very scared. And then you panic, and the more you panic, the more you spasm."
Very recently, Dion's foundation announced that it will establish the Céline Dion Foundation Endowed Chair in Autoimmune Neurology. The foundation pledged $2 million in the ongoing fight against Autoimmune Neurology.
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