Céline Dion is peeling back the curtain of her life and giving fans an emotional new insight into her health struggles and goals to return to the stage in her documentary, “I Am: Céline Dion.”
The documentary chronicles the singer’s journey with stiff person syndrome in never-before-seen footage and explains how meaningful it is for her to try everything she can to continue performing.
At the film’s New York Premiere, Céline told Access Hollywood that one of the many goals of the documentary is to show people that she never gave up.
“I wanted people to know that I did not disappear, turn my back, and not finish my career and [say] I’m done and that’s it. No. I’m still extremely passionate and I miss my fans. They got me here, where I am today after 40-something years of [a] career,” she said. “The most important thing is this documentary telling the world why I was away. What’s happening,” she added.
As director Irene Taylor Brodsky told Access, Céline’s voice needed to come through in the doc.
“Céline asked me when we first met, she said, ‘Do you think it would be possible for me to tell my own story? For me to just use my own voice?’ And I said, what do you mean by that, elaborate and she said, ‘Well, you know people have talked about me my whole life and I want to talk about myself, and I just want a film where that would be possible. Is that possible?’” Irene said. “She didn’t tell me to do it, she just asked if that would be possible,” she added.
Not only was Céline able to tell the story from her point of view, but she also gave the crew full access into her life.
Céline Dion Dazzles At Premiere Of Her Documentary ‘I Am Céline’
View Gallery“We would go to her once a month or two months and we would stay for several days and we would just kind of meet her where she was at,” she said noting that some days they would just capture her eating and playing with her kids at home.
“It was just really quiet, home life and it was really what she needed at that time,” Irene added.
Fans will also get to see Céline’s kids in the documentary.
“Yes, you will meet them,” she said. “The twins are in the home with us most of the time, so we heard them a lot.”
At the documentary’s premiere, Céline also told Access how her three sons helped her through her diagnosis.
“They gave me a lot of support and then I said, if I want to keep going and go back on stage, the first thing that I have to do as a mother, is for me to find out for myself what’s happening. If it’s possible to know. It took a moment; I know what’s going on. I went right back to work and the mother in me took over because that’s my priority and it’s the best reward in my life—my three kids that deserve to have their mom, and my fans and the awareness,” she added.
“I Am: Céline Dion” documentary, streaming June 25 on Prime Video.