Céline Dion opened up about her harrowing battle with a rare neurological and autoimmune disorder, Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS), which led her to take near-lethal doses of Valium to manage her symptoms.
Speaking with Hoda Kotb during NBC primetime special on Tuesday night, Dion disclosed that she was consuming up to 90 milligrams of Valium daily to cope with severe anxiety, seizures, and muscle spasms caused by SPS.
“I did not know, honestly, that it could kill me. I would take, for example, before a performance, 20 milligrams of Valium, and then just walking from my dressing room to backstage—it was gone,” she shared, according to Billboard.
Dion explained that her body’s tolerance to the medication increased over time, necessitating higher doses to achieve the same relief.
“At one point, the thing is, that my body got used to it at 20 and 30 and 40 [milligrams] until it went up,” she recounted. “And I needed that. It was relaxing my whole body. For two weeks, for a month, the show would go on… but then you get used to [it] and it doesn’t work anymore.”
The Grammy-winning artist revealed that she was taking more than twice the recommended daily dose of Valium, which posed a significant risk to her health.
She did not reduce her intake until the COVID-19 pandemic provided her with the opportunity to step away from performing and focus on her well-being. “I stopped everything with the help of doctors,” Dion explained.
“I was weaning off all the meds, and especially the bad ones. I stopped everything because it stopped working.”
Despite weaning off the medication, Dion’s symptoms worsened, leading her to step back from performing since March 2020. She publicly disclosed her diagnosis in December 2022, although she had been struggling with SPS for nearly two decades.
During the pandemic, Dion also began working on her upcoming Prime Video documentary, “I Am: Celine Dion,” set to premiere on June 25. In the documentary, she reassures her fans of her determination to return to the stage. “If I can’t run, I’ll walk,” she vows. “If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl… I won’t stop.”
