Celine Dion reveals how she began taking near-fatal amounts of valium amid stiff-person syndrome

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Celine Dion has shared the challenges she encountered while doctors were still determining her illness.

The 56-year-old has been battling Stiff-Person Syndrome after reportedly being diagnosed in 2022.

At the time, she said, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, “Recently I've been diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder called stiff-person syndrome [SPS], which affects something like one in a million people.”

“While we're still learning about this rare condition, we now know this is what's been causing all of the spasms that I've been having. Unfortunately, the spasm affects every aspect of my daily life, sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I'm used to,” she added.

In her debut TV interview aired on NBC Tuesday night, June 11, Celine Dion revealed that she increased her Valium intake beyond the prescribed 20 milligrams dosage when it proved ineffective.

Celine Dion reveals medicine stopped working on her

According to Just Jared, Dion explained, “90 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 [milligrams] until it went up.”

“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 [and] it doesn’t work anymore,” she shared.

The ‘Queen of Power Ballads’ further mentioned, “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.”

Covid-19 proved beneficial for Celine Dion

While many experienced hardship during the Covid-19 pandemic, Dion found it to be a blessing.

She disclosed, “It was an opportunity for me to take a break. Do not be brave. And to be smart…I stopped everything with the help of doctors.”

“I was weaning off all the meds, and especially the bad ones. I stopped everything because it stopped working,” she recalled.

However, the situation was far from resolved for 'The Power Of Love' singer, as doctors had yet to identify her underlying issue.

She stated, “It’s very complex. I wanted to — from head to toe — figure it out. And I wanted to also figure out: ‘Is there something that I can do for myself or am I at the end of my career?’”

However, now she does not think like that and wants to sing and perform again.

Dion added, “I’m gonna go back on stage, even if I have to crawl, even if I have to. I will. I am Celine Dion, because today, my voice will be heard for the first time, not just because I have to or because I need to, it’s because I want to.”