Shania Twain; Céline Dion.Photo:Samir Hussein/WireImage; Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty
Samir Hussein/WireImage; Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty
Shania Twainis sending her well wishes toCéline Dionamid the latter’s ongoing health issues.
During aninterview withBillboardpublished Thursday, Twain, 57, offered words of encouragement to Dion, 55, who revealed her stiff-person syndrome diagnosis last December.
“I’m such a fan of Céline’s voice,” Twain said of Dion. “She’s a one-of-a-kind, extraordinary vocalist and entertainer.”
She added, “I hope to be able to connect with her at some point. I think it’s gotta be so difficult, and I know — only speaking from my experience — how horrifying it is to think that something is preventing you from singing, or interfering with that joy in your life. So I just pray that she is able to overcome it and she will be up there [on stage] singing for us all again.”
In May, Dion announced thecancellation of her showsafter previous postponements and said that she was “unable to successfully prepare for and perform the remainder” of her tour following herdiagnosis.
“I’m so sorry to disappoint all of you once again… and even though it breaks my heart, it’s best that we cancel everything until I’m really ready to be back on stage… I’m not giving up… and I can’t wait to see you again!” the mom of three posted to her Twitter page at the time.
A sourcetold PEOPLEthat she was “focusing on her health” and “she couldn’t keep postponing shows — it wasn’t fair to the fans.”
Céline Dion with her three sons, twins Eddy and Nelson, 12, and René-Charles, 22.Celine Dion Instagram
Celine Dion Instagram
The power ballad queen previously revealed in December 2022 that she had been diagnosed withstiff-person syndrome, a rare and incurable neurological disease that can cause debilitating muscle spasms. At the time, she said in an Instagram post that she’d “been dealing with problems with my health for a long time, and it’s been really difficult for me to face these challenges and to talk about everything that I’ve been going through.”
In theBillboardinterview, Twain also discussed how her 1998 single “From This Moment,” which she co-wrote with then-husband, music producerRobert John “Mutt” Lang, was a track she had originally intended to give to Dion.
“I wrote that with her in mind, and I really wanted her — my wish was that I would write it and she would record it. It would have been such an honor,” Twain recalled. “But my husband and producer at the time was like, ‘No, this really needs to be on your record.’ And I’m so grateful that I did record it.”
Like Dion, Twain has spoken candidly about her own recent health issues and detailed her experience with Lyme disease.
Days before the release of her sixth albumQueen of Meearlier this year, Twainspoke about her experienceof undergoing invasivethroat surgeryinInStyle’s February cover story.
“After I had the surgery, I was petrified to make a sound,” the five-time Grammy-winning artist told the outlet.
“I didn’t know what was going to come out,” she admitted.
Scott Legato/Getty
For more than seven years, Twain was unable to project vocally and was worried she’d never sing again. Eventually, doctors diagnosed Twain withLyme diseasefrom a 2004 tick bite, which they believe damaged the nerves in her vocal cords.
She relearned how to sing, with lengthy warm-ups and physical therapy, and in 2018 she underwentopen-throat surgeryto strengthen the weakened nerves. Twain is currently headlining her Queen of Me Tour.
source: people.com
