Celine Dion lives her life like an open book, so she wasn’t shy about answering any of Andy Cohen’s probing questions during an appearance on “Watch What Happens Live,” even when he prodded into her love life.
The iconic singer has not been seen publicly dating since the passing of her husband René Angélil in 2016 and it turns out that is a very intentional decision the singer has made in her life.
“I don’t date. I don’t have a boyfriend,” she told a caller who asked if she had started dating yet. “And, you know, it doesn’t mean that I will not find someone in my life. If I do, that would be great. If I don’t, that would be great.”
According to Dion, she’s content because she’s still completely in love with her late husband. “Once you love so much– you know, I’ve been living all my life with Rene; he’s still within me. I see him through the eyes of my children every day.”
And yet, she took it in stride when tabloids started speculating that she had started dating Pepe Munoz. In fact, she wasn’t even surprised that the rumors began, though she was quick to shut them down, too.
“We’re in show business and the tabloids– this industry is made for that,” she said mimicking a tabloid reporter doubting that best friends can hold hands.
Describing him as her best friend, Celine finally had to tell the tabloids, “He’s not my boyfriend, he’s gay, calm down. I’m not trying to hide here, everything’s cool. But we can hold hands when we go to the movies and restaurants. Calm down, people.”
My Heart Won’t Go On?
She’s talked about it before, but Andy was stunned when Celine admitted she almost passed on the song that would become the signature piece of her career, “My Heart Will Go On” from “Titanic.”
And it turns out she only barely sang it anyway … at least the first time. She said her husband, who was also her manager, talked her into making “like a little demo,” so she “sang the song once and they built the orchestra around it. I never really sang it for the recording.”
Amazingly, “the demo is the actual recording.” That’s an incredible demo and a testament to the power and strength of her voice that she nailed one of the most iconic vocal performances of all time in a demo.
Hit That Note All By Myself?
Another favorite story of Celine’s is how her producer, David Foster, goaded her into nailing a note much higher than she confidently felt she could hit for another signature piece, “All By Myself.” And that note really does make that song, so he made the right call.
According to the story, she and Foster agreed on a key for the song only when she got to the studio to lay it down, he had a “surprise” for her.
“The key that we have agreed on he changed it to a key and a half higher,” she recalled. When she argued with him about it, he reportedly told her, “Well if you can’t do it, there’s other singers who can.” In other versions of this story, Dion has said he specifically cited Whitney Houston as someone who was ready to step in and record it.
“That’s all I needed to hit the note,” she said. And she’s been hitting it in shows ever since, just like she’s been performing “My Heart Will Go On.”
She also talked about not being intimidated to go toe to toe with Aretha Franklin during VH1’s “Divas Live” performance, as well as wanting to respect the Queen of Soul’s time, but also get a selfie.
You can check out that candid chat in the video directly above. Then, find out which drag queen impersonation of her she gave the crown to in Andy’s Celine Dion Drag Pageant below:
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