NBC News
Céline Dion is opening up about her battle with stiff-person syndrome in her first TV interview since revealing her diagnosis.
In a first look at her sit-down with “Today’s” Hoda Kotb, Dion describes what it is like living with the ailment.
Hoda asked what was happening to her voice when she tried to sing, and the Grammy winner replied, “It’s like somebody is strangling you.”
Céline explained that it felt like someone was pushing on her larynx and “you cannot go high or lower.”
She said, “It gets into a spasm,” pointing to her throat, she added, “It started here.” The singer said that initially she thought, “It is going to be fine.”
Dion later learned, “It can be in the abdominal, can be in the spine, it can be in the ribs… I had broken ribs at one point because sometimes when it is very severe it can break some ribs as well.”
It is impacting other parts of her body as well. The 56-year-old said, “If I point my feet they will stay, or if I cook — I love to cook — my fingers, my hands will get in a position… that you can’t unlock them.”
Previously, Hoda announced the news on “Today,” sharing, “I got to have a rare conversation with Céline Dion, and she has not performed live in years and years… She was diagnosed with a terrible disease, and at one point she wondered if she was going to make, whether she was going to live through it. And she talks about what it has done to her voice and the possibility of a comeback. We’ve missed her, and it was a very emotional interview, and we’ll see where she is in her journey of coming back, and I know people are cheering her on.”
On June 11, fans can watch a preview of the interview on “Today” followed by a primetime special that night at 10 p.m. on NBC.
The special will include new footage from the singer’s upcoming Amazon documentary “I Am: Céline Dion,” which premieres June 25. Watch the trailer below!