Céline Dion suffered for 17 years before stiff-person syndrome diagnosis.

In an interview for the September 2026 issue of Harper's Bazaar, the Canadian superstar recalled how she often experienced severe pain and inability to walk for many years. "It is a progressive condition. I don't like to say 'disease,'" she told the outlet, before describing how she decided to speak about the health crisis in her 2024 documentary, I Am: Celine Dion. "(The fans) paid for tickets. They bought my records. They gave me that luxury. So the least I can do is tell them that I'm alive."