Celine Dion admitted she ended up taking a near-fatal amount of valium to deal with the pain amid her health battle with Stiff-Person Syndrome.
During an interview with NBC News’ Hoda Kotb, the 56-year-old singer opened up about being prescribed the drug so she could continue to perform while dealing with the debilitating symptoms with the autoimmune neurological disorder, which she said started as early as 2008, the New York Post reported.
“We tried a lot of things. Trying a lot of things when you don’t know what you have can kill you,” Dion said. “I did not know, honestly, that it could kill me.”
“Ninety milligrams of Valium can kill you,” she added. “You can stop breathing. And at one point, the thing is that my body got used to it at 20 and 30 and 40 [milligrams], until it went up. And I needed that. It was relaxing my whole body.”
“But for how long?” Dion continued. “For two weeks, for a month? But then it doesn’t work anymore. More, more, more.”
Hoda Kotb full Interview with the Queen Celine Dion pic.twitter.com/6amgieply8
— Celine Dion Icon (@celinedionlcon) June 12, 2024
Speaking to People, the “My Heart Will Go On” hitmaker discussed more about taking the drug and admitted “it could’ve been fatal.”
“I did not question the level, because I don’t know medicine,” Dion said. “I thought it was going to be OK. It worked for a few days, for a few weeks, and then it doesn’t work anymore.”
“I did not understand that I could have gone to bed and stopped breathing,” she added. “And you learn — you learn through your mistakes.”
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Dion said she wanted to make it clear she wasn’t taking the drug to “be high or to be stoned,” but to eliminate the symptoms.
“I have been as professional as can be through my whole life, a disciplined, hard-working person doing what I need to do for my voice to be in top shape,” the singer said.
She was officially diagnosed with SPS in August 2022, and the Canadian singer said that when she stopped taking the valium, the symptoms got worse. Dion ended up canceling several concerts and finally decided to share with her fans in December 2022 her diagnosis. Stiff-Person Syndrome is described as a progressive disease that leaves its victims as “human statues” who cannot walk or talk.
“You think of the simple things, you’re not thinking you’re gong to die,” Dion told Kotb. “You can have what looks like seizures. You don’t remember everything.”
During her NBC interview, the singer said she won’t let this disease stop her from performing again.
“I’m going to go back onstage, even if I have to crawl,” Dion said. “Even if I have to talk with my hands, I will. I will. I am Céline Dion, because today my voice will be heard for the first time, not just because I have to, or because I need to. It’s because I want to and I miss it.”
Related: Celine Dion Documentary Will Give Fans A Look At Singer’s Life-Altering Illness
