Céline Dion’s appearance at the 2024 Grammy Awards was one of the best-kept secrets of the night.
“When I say, I’m happy to be here, I really mean it. From my heart,” Dion, 55, said on Sunday, February 4, when she took the stage to present the biggest award of the night, Album of the Year. “Those who have been blessed enough to be here at the Grammy Awards must never take for granted the tremendous love and joy that music brings to our lives and people around the world.”
Dion received a standing ovation when she walked out and Taylor Swift was spotted singing along to Dion’s “Power of Love.” Moments later, Dion presented Swift, 34, with the award and clapped as Swift accepted the trophy.
Dion, 55, arrived at Crypto.com Arena mid-show with designer Law Roach by her side, an insider exclusively told Us Weekly, noting that the pair showed up via an elevator. Throughout her career, Dion has earned 16 Grammy nominations and won five trophies.
Dion’s brief moment in the limelight came more than one year after she revealed her battle with stiff-person syndrome. The diagnosis caused Dion to postpone her shows in December 2022.
“I’ve 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,” Dion told her followers via an Instagram video at the time.
She revealed that the “very rare neurological disorder” caused her to have “spasms” and was affecting her vocal cords and other muscles. “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 said.
Dion’s health battle led her to withdraw from her public life, but she stayed connected to her three sons: René-Charles, 23, and twins Nelson and Eddy, 13. Dion shared her boys with late husband René Angelil, who died of throat cancer in January 2016 at age 73.
“Her kids have been her rock … the twins are very mature for their age and René-Charles checks in and dotes on his mom all the time,” a source exclusively told Us in December 2022.
Nearly one year later, Dion and her three children made a rare group appearance to watch the Vegas Golden Knights play the Montreal Canadiens in October 2023. Dion took her kids into the Canadiens’ locker room to give her hometown team a pep talk before they took the ice.
“Just stay healthy, strong. … Do what you do best,” she told the athletes, according to a video shared via the team’s social media page.
Fans subsequently got an update on the singer’s condition from her sister Claudette Dion. “She works hard, but she doesn’t have control of her muscles,” Claudette, 75, told Canadian magazine 7 Jours in an interview published in December 2023. “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.’”
Claudette noted that it is a “dream” for both Céline and her family that she “return to the stage” in some way, but performing live again is up in the air due to her illness.
