An intimate group of journalists from across the USA and Canada were invited to talk to superstar singer Celine Dion on the opening night last Thursday of her new run of 40 shows at the Colosseum in Caesars Palace.
I had the privilege of kicking off the English-language portion of her Q+A pre-show, then meeting her backstage after the incredible performance. Our review, photo galleries and videos were posted last Friday, and our Royal Robin Rundown of the full show was posted Monday.
Celine revealed that she’s keeping busy even with the new Las Vegas shows and that two new albums are in the works, first a French album for 2016, then an English-language one in 2017. Here are her answers to my questions and the other members of the media:
Mother, caregiver, superstar entertainer. I don’t know that that’s the right order of importance, but where do you find the strength to deal with those three individual challenges, especially tonight?
In order of importance, it’s my family, my children, my husband (Rene Angelil). My inner strength comes from those mechanisms. There are many shows and artists for people to see, so it’s giving of your best to help us to get even better. My inner strength comes because my passion still exists and especially my love for the music.
My three children and my wonderful husband wanted me to be here because I’m not quite sure I was ready to be here tonight, but we had to commit and say, “We doing this?” or “Are we not doing this?” We decided to do this, and here we are today.
My pal Mark Gray asked Celine to describe her emotional state.
I’m very nervous. It’s kind of an awkward emotion because sometimes I’m more nervous than I should be from moments that have happened in my life and sometimes I speak from the heart, where I feel the strength. I don’t think right now, I’m not on top of anything. I’m trying to be very grounded.
The fortunate thing is that a lot of people are alone in the world to fight for because I talked to you about my story, it happens to every singer around the world. It’s just that because I have a microphone and I’m onstage and TV, and I talk to you about it.
A lot of people went through what we are going through, but I’m trying to stay as grounded as possible because my husband needs me, and I want to show my children that this is part of life, that I’ve got their backs. We’ve got this. We’re doing this. We’re OK.
The 47-year-old singer continued with other answers.
It’s not about me, but I’m trying really hard to show my children that sickness and being slapped in life, you cannot be crying and be depressed and constantly talk about, “Oh, my God.” My Rene-Charles is going to be 15 years old. He’s a wonderful young man.
I have tremendous respect for him because he’s showing me his strength. It’s hard for him sometimes I’m sure to see his dad this way because he’s been his thinker, he has been his strength. As he got older, my husband would show R-C a lot of things, and they bonded a lot.
We don’t want to keep him away from society. He’s becoming a hockey player. He’s the only one in the family who has straight teeth, and now he’s becoming a hockey player. Regardless of the hockey thing, he’s a tremendous golfer. He just shot a 40 and a 36 a couple of days ago, and he’s like, “Oh, well,” and I’m, like, “That was incredible.”
The main thing for me is that my son’s been having amazing grace and he has a life where he can choose. He checks on his dad. He’s bonding even more with the twins (Nelson and Eddy) right now because they’re growing. Now they can play catch. They’re almost 5, so the bond is getting closer.
It’s very important for me that the rest of the journey, whether it’s his dad looking at him hitting balls or going to the arena playing hockey, the way that the home school is done, he has socialization with friends.
My Las Vegas Sun colleague Editor at Large John Katsilometes noted that Celine has almost lived a lifetime on the Colosseum stage at Caesars Palace. He asked her if it was ”home” and cathartic to be able to come into a place that is so familiar for her return?
Absolutely. It became stability. … At first I was a little bit insecure when I started here because I thought the negative vision of me being here with this big Colosseum was a general feeling that it was not going to work. At any point of your life, someone will come and say, “Are you sure?”
At the same time, a lot of professional people believed in this place, millions and millions of dollars that at one point I started to feel that because I was the act coming here, I didn’t want to be responsible for more than a $100 million flop. I wanted it to be successful. They believed in us, I believed in them, but is that enough when you hear that the Titanic is going to sink again, and we haven’t started yet.
What I appreciate about AEG and Caesars Palace and this whole team is they are so supportive and professional. They’ve become family. You sign contracts, they want to make money, you want to make money, you have a passion, and you want to do what you love, if it doesn’t work, then you say, “Thank you so much. Goodbye.” If you don’t do a good job, they will find somebody else.
But, honestly, after five years in here, I thought I was going to be here for five days, then five years later I left for a world tour, and I never thought I was going to come back that quickly.
Then I’m, like, OK, and thank God we didn’t sell the house. We stayed here, and it decided to become a home and comfortable place, and the kids loved it. We were back, put on the show, and, last but not least, and it’s the most important thing in answering your question, there’s never been a contract. There’s never been business meetings of concern. This is proof of trust, of love, support, and I think that’s what Rene has done best for me. Making sure I was surrounded by the best people in my life.
When he had to say no to people, saying she won’t be able to make this, they were disappointed, but at the end of the conversation, he always reassured them, saying, “I promise you we’ll make something good eventually. It’s a promise.” I think it always came true.
They could have just said, “Celine, you’re having a hard time. Rene is sick. Let’s finish this for now, and let’s stop here.” It did not work this way. They’ve been there since Day 1. It’s not even as an artist today that I’m saying this. It’s as a wife, as a mother, that I extremely appreciate that they want me here as long as I need.
Rene is passing along his strength to me. He doesn’t stop amazing me. We have talked about things. It’s time for him to be heard. When he talks to me, I take notes. This is his time, this is his way, and it’s going to be the way he wants it to be.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in the world who are struggling with battles. When you have family around you, I think it helps tremendously, but it’s not always reality. Some people know they will die, and they’re alone. You have to find a way, and I’m not quite sure because it’s very individual and I think it’s very personal that everyone sees spirituality and inner strength differently.
I think people who are struggling and they feel like they’re alone, they have to reach for themselves because they need probably much more than they think. When you hold on to something like a dream and it doesn’t happen, what do you do? You die? You have to reach for something else. Reach to yourself, look within yourself, the answer is there, the inner strength is there, and you will find a balance. I think the balance will help you to focus and deal with nightmares.
Our friends at Fox 5 asked if Celine has a message to the Las Vegas community, now her second home?
They know why I have been gone, and what I have appreciated more is that never for one second they have doubted me for taking that time, and that is grand because they never questioned why can’t you just have someone take care of your husband here. I know it’s disappointing for fans to have their concerts canceled, but my question to all of them would be, “Don’t you think that you would have done the same thing as me?”
Backstage after the premiere, she told me: “I had to stay rigid tonight but not too rigid because you lose the emotion as it comes forward. So control was the hardest thing. When I saw and I felt that love from the audience, I started to loosen up. They helped me to get through the night.
“I cried after the show in the elevator. When I say that I’m extremely happy, it’s not about my performance. It’s about the whole evening and everybody’s support.”
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