Hoda Kotb had a news-making reason to be “out on assignment” earlier this week on Today.
Kotb, 59, sat down with Céline Dion for the singer’s first TV interview since being diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome in December 2022. “I went to Las Vegas to interview Céline Dion,” Kotb shared on the Thursday, May 23, episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna. “It’s a really rare conversation that she and I had.”
During the one-hour primetime special, which will air on June 11, Dion, 56, will open up her health battle and her upcoming Prime Video documentary, I Am Céline Dion, which premieres on June 25.
“[The film] was so jarring to me and moving that I couldn’t believe what they were able to capture in that documentary,” Kotb said of the movie, adding that she “can’t stop thinking about it.” She continued: “Céline Dion at some point — she is now much better — but at some point, she almost died, which is something that she says.”
Celine Dion Working on Her ‘Body and Soul’ Amid Stiff Person Syndrome Battle
Kotb teased that Dion talked to her “about everything that she’s been through, about her hopeful comeback, what it did to her voice, that beautiful voice, and where she is now,” before gushing, “She was enlightening and beautiful and amazing.”
Kotb even hinted that the special will feature a bit of singing from Dion, telling her cohost Jenna Bush Hager, “She sang with me. It was just, like, an amazing time.”
Dion informed fans that she had been diagnosed with a “very rare neurological disorder” in an emotional December 2022 social media video. She explained that stiff-person syndrome affects “something like one in a million people” and was the cause for “all the spasms” she had been having.
“[The spasms] affect 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 shared at the time. As a result of her diagnosis, she announced she would not be resuming her European tour in February 2023 and that more show dates had been pushed back to 2024.
“I have a great team of doctors working alongside me to help me get better and my precious children, who are supporting me and giving me hope,” the French-Canadian star added. “I’m working hard with my sports medicine therapist every day to build back my strength and my ability to perform again, but I have to admit it’s been a struggle.” (Dion shares her son René-Charles, 23, and twins Nelson and Freddy, 13, with her late husband, René Angélil.)
Céline’s sister Claudette Dion told the Canadian magazine 7 Jours in December 2023 that the pop star didn’t “have control of her muscles.” She went on to note: “What pains me is that she has always been disciplined. She always worked hard. Mom always told her, ‘You’re going to do this right, you’re going to do this right,” she added, noting it is Céline’s “dream” to “return to the stage” eventually.
Celine Dion Through the Years: From Her Debut Album to Worldwide Success
Céline stepped out for a rare public appearance at the Grammy Awards in February, during which she received a standing ovation before presenting the award for Album of the Year to Taylor Swift. “She felt the love all around,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly after the ceremony. “It lifted her spirits.”
Another insider added that her health condition has “empowered her and changed her mindset.”
A preview of Kotb and Dion’s interview will air Tuesday, June 11, on Today, followed by the full primetime special at 10 p.m. ET.
