'Like Somebody Is Strangling You': Céline Dion On What It Is Like To Sing With Stiff Person Syndrome

A person suffering from stiff person syndrome often experiences painful muscle contractions that begin in the legs and back, and can be felt in other parts of the body, including the throat.

C line Dion has been living with stiff person syndrome for many years now, but has now decided to open up about it and shed some light on her health journey. The Canadian singer recently gave her first broadcast interview since 2022, when she first revealed that she has the rare autoimmune neurological condition that causes 'muscle stiffness' and 'painful spasms' that come and go, and worsen over time, according to hopkinsmedicine.org. Dion said the debilitating disorder has affected her ability to sing. "It is like somebody is strangling you," she was heard telling TODAY exclusively in an excerpt of her interview with Hoda Kotb that aired earlier this month, on June 7. "It is like somebody is pushing your larynx/pharynx this way," she modulated her voice to explain the impact.

The 56-year-old singer, who has given hits like 'My Heart Will Go On' and 'To Love You More' added: "It was like talking like that, and you cannot go high or lower. It gets into a spasm."

The singer also told Kotb that she kept her condition a secret for so many years because she herself was trying to make sense of it and understand the disease. According to reports, Dion first started experiencing stiff person syndrome symptoms during her world tour in 2008. "What did you want me to say? 'I have ' What? We did not know what was going on."

In an exclusive interview with TODAY, singer Celine Dion reveals why she decided to come forward with her diagnosis for stiff person syndrome. "I could not do this anymore," she says, adding, "Lying for me, the burden was too much." pic.twitter.com/LJvUrcFjpO TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 10, 2024

The singer chose to wait and go public with her diagnosis in December 2022, when she made an Instagram video to announce that she was postponing many performances.

"I did not take the time I should have stopped, take the time to figure it out," Dion was quoted as telling Kotb. Unfortunately for her, when she began to notice early signs of her condition, her late husband Ren Ang lil was undergoing treatment for throat cancer. "My husband, as well, was fighting for his own life. I had to raise my kids, I had to hide. I had to try to be a hero."

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According to a Today.com report, the singer first started to feel the symptoms in her throat; she thought, "Okay that is going to be fine." But, the muscle spasms and stiffness were soon felt in her hands and feet. "It can also be in the abdominal, can be in the spine, can be in the ribs," Dion was quoted as saying.

According to hopkinsmedicine.org, a person suffering from stiff person syndrome experiences 'painful muscle contractions and spasms' that often begin in the legs and back, but may also affect the abdomen, and less often the arms, neck, face, and upper trunk. Depending on which part of the body is affected, contractions are likely to lead to:

• Walking difficulty
• A stiff posture
• Unsteadiness and falling
• Anxiety and agoraphobia due to falls
• Shortness of breath if muscles in the chest are affected
• Chronic pain
• Changes in the spine alignment, which can cause spinal cord compression.