Céline Dion Drops New Bombshell, 5 Years After Her Husband René Angélil’s Passing

Jun 29, 2021 by apost team

Canadian singer Céline Dion, 53, first rose to fame representing Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest. She then became famous internationally when she recorded the title track for Disney’s animated film “Beauty and the Beast.” Dion is best known for singing the hugely popular song “My Heart WIll Go On” from the hit film “Titanic.” The successful artist has also had a 16-year residency in Las Vegas.

Not only is she one of Canada’s most popular musicians who has had astronomical worldwide record sales, she is also a mother to three children. However, the star was met with tragedy when she lost her husband, René Angélil, to throat cancer in 2016. René was 73 years old. Since then, Dion has been mourning the loss of her partner of 22 years, whom she first met when she was 12 years old and later got engaged to at 25.

Throughout Dion’s life, the singer has paid tribute to her husband, dedicating songs to him and singing his praises in interviews with the press. René entered into the singer’s life as her manager and mentor, though their relationship turned romantic in 1987, following René's divorce from his second wife. 

In 1994, the couple got married at Montréal's Notre-Dame Basilica in a wedding ceremony that was broadcast on Canadian television. Only five years later, René was diagnosed with cancer for the first time. He would battle the disease for years until his death in 2016. But the diagnosis — along with fertility problems — didn’t stop the couple from having three children and an over 20-year-long marriage.

Dion told Today in May 2021, "I feel like René has given me so much through the years and still today. I see my kids. I look at them — we live with him. We still live with him. He's part of our lives every day, so I have to say that I feel very, very strong."

According to Good Housekeeping, the singer first met her husband-to-be after one of her siblings sent a tape of a then 12-year-old singer to René, a well-known music manager in Canada. René, who was impressed, invited Dion for an audition, which quickly led to Dion releasing her first album under the French-Canadian manager. When Dion turned 19 in 1987, René and Dion went on their first date together, which the singer revealed in the liner notes of the album “The Colour of My Love."

The first tragedy came in 1998 when René received his first cancer diagnosis. However, the couple remained optimistic about René's health after he was declared cancer-free in 2000. But 13 years later, after the couple had had three children together, doctors again diagnosed René with cancer, which the music manager fought for 3 years before passing in 2016.

“I went back in my dressing room and I saw him looking pretty devastated, in shock, and I was like, ‘What’s going on,’” Dion recalled in a 2015 interview with ABC. “He said, ‘I have cancer again. The doctor just called me and I have cancer again.'"

Since then, Dion has been candid about the pain she felt upon René's passing, and in a May 2021 interview with Today, she took the time to explain the momentous loss she has experienced.

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When asked whether Dion might consider moving on and dating someone else, she replied by saying, “I don’t know. I have no idea. But right this second, love is so big right now in my life, with my kids, with life itself. I'm not thinking about a relationship and falling in love again. I don't. Do I have to say that it will never happen anymore? I don't know. I don't know."

Even though she made it clear that she isn’t interested in dating right now, Dion left open the possibility of dating in the future. “I miss to be touched, I miss to be hugged, I miss to be told, ‘You’re beautiful,'” Dion said. “I miss what a boyfriend and I miss what a husband would do.”

Dion’s life now revolves around her three children. Her eldest son, René-Charles, was born on January 25, 2001, and her twins, Eddy and Nelson, were born on October 23, 2010. She says that her children help keep her late husband’s memory alive. 

Dion also announced that she will be beginning a new show in Las Vegas. “Vegas has given us, my family and I, an opportunity for me to be a mom, for them to be kids, for me to perform for my fans and to practice my passion and every night come home,” Dion told Today.

The singer spoke more about her new show. She added, “It’s going to be about energy, about starting again, about living again, about feeling that something will come out of this, hopefully. It’s about a moment.”

What do you think about Dion’s decision to wait before starting to date again? Would you go see her new Las Vegas show? Let us know your thoughts, and be sure to send this along to your loved ones.