Celine Dion says 'I'm back' after health struggles

As the sun sets behind the mountains in an exclusive neighbourhood 30 minutes from the Las Vegas strip, I can hear a recognisable voice singing behind a closed door.

"Is that Celine?" I ask. Her security man guarding the hotel suite nods. I am about to interview a musical megastar, and it sounds like she is in a cheerful mood. But the iconic voice I can hear casually singing away is one that fans feared they might never hear again.

"I’ve been dealing with problems with my health for a long time," she shared in an Instagram video in December 2022. "I have been diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder." After that devastating announcement, Celine Dion pulled out of the remainder of her world tour, and has rarely been seen in public since.

Signs of trouble

The medical name for her little-known illness is Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS), a neurological condition that causes muscles to spasm. As we sit down to talk, Celine says it went undiagnosed for years. The 56-year-old describes the distress she felt as a performer when she began to notice changes in her voice on tour.