Céline Dion promised herself she would return to the stage. On Friday, her first live performance in more than four years drew an outpouring of emotional support in Paris and around the world.
Closing out the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, Dion belted her powerful rendition of French singer Édith Piaf’s “Hymne à l’amour” from a sparkling Eiffel Tower.
Dion has been open about her battle with stiff-person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that causes muscle rigidity and spasms that sometimes affect Dion’s control over her vocal cords.
But the singer’s performance Friday left the audience in awe as fans rushed to share their adulation.
Videos online showed Dion exiting the Eiffel Tower to applause and cheers, accepting flowers from fans as she left, and receiving praise — which evolved into chants of “Céline” — from a crowd outside her hotel.
Some viewers — whether watching from the audience like Canadian high diver Molly Carlson, or from elsewhere — shared videos of themselves tearing up and sobbing.
Fans shared their reactions from home, making viral posts online about how Dion’s performance stirred their emotions. One X user wrote that watching it “made me get up out of bed. after I wiped the ocean of tears off my face.”
Another user noted that her performance “could have been a 4/10 and we’d have been cheering Celine on just the same… but the fact that at 56, after years of a debilitating chronic illness that has affected her voice to such a degree, she just gave probably the performance of her career… I’m truly in awe.”
After revealing her stiff-person diagnosis in 2022, the singer postponed and ultimately canceled all 2023 and 2024 dates for a scheduled European tour.
In an interview with “TODAY’s” Hoda Kotb last month, Dion described herself as having been trapped in a “bunker” for four years.
“I’m going to go back onstage even if I have to crawl,” she told Kotb. “Even if I have to talk with my hands, I will. I will.”
Kelly Clarkson, who is covering this year’s Olympics as a co-host alongside Peyton Manning and Mike Tirico, was also seemingly speechless after witnessing Dion's comeback.
“If you know anything just about Celine right now ... this is her purpose. And if you know anything about what she’s going through right now and — I’m so sorry, I’m trying to hold it together — but that she got through that, that was incredible,” Clarkson said after the performance. “And in my field, she is the gold winner for vocal athletes.”
