Celine Dion took life-threatening doses of Valium to manage her pain before she was diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome.
The My Heart Will Go On singer was prescribed the medication to help her cope with her muscle spasms and stiffness before she was diagnosed with the rare autoimmune neurological disorder in 2022.
Celine revealed to host Hoda Kotb on the TV special Celine’s Story that she had to keep upping her doses of the muscle-relaxing pill in order to perform – to the point where she was taking 90 milligrams a day instead of the maximum dosage of 40 milligrams.
“I did not know honestly that it could kill me,” she said. “Ninety milligrams of Valium can kill you, you can stop breathing. And at one point, the thing is that my body got used to it at 20 and 30 and 40 until it went up. And I needed that, it was relaxing my whole body for what, for two weeks, for a month, OK the show must go on. Here we go, I’m fine. But you get used to it, it doesn’t work anymore. More, more, more.”
The 56-year-old also revealed that she experienced her first muscle spasm almost twenty years ago, when she was on tour in 2008. The condition progressively worsened, and at one point, she broke her ribs from severe spasms.
Dion was forced to cancel her world tour dates because her health battle affected her ability to move and sing. However, she remains hopeful that she will be able to perform again in the future.
The music icon was already shooting a documentary about her life when she was finally given her SPS diagnosis. The film, I Am: Celine Dion, will be released on Prime Video on 25 June.
