Céline Dion Tearfully Thanks Fans at ‘I Am’ Premiere: ‘I Hope to See You All Very, Very Soon’ | Video

Céline Dion hopes to see her fans “very, very soon,” she said at the New York premiere of her Amazon MGM Studios documentary “I Am: Céline Dion” Monday night. The six-time Grammy winner tearfully recalled a fan’s tweet of support and thanked the audience for their continued messages throughout her experience against Stiff Person Syndrome.

“So, a couple of days ago, I saw a message from a fan,” Dion told the audience. “And it said, ‘We’re not here for the apples, we’re here for the tree.'” As the crowd cheered, Dion wiped away tears and continued, “I cannot… I cannot believe how fortunate I am to have my fans in my life. Thank you to all of you from the bottom of my heart for being part of my journey.”

“This movie is my love letter to each of you,” Dion added. “I hope to see you all very, very soon.”

On Monday the Céline Dion Foundation also announced a $2 million to establish the Celine Dion Foundation Endowed Chair in Autoimmune Neurology. The University of Colorado’s Amanda Piquet, MD, FAAN will be the inaugural chair.

Resources from the foundation will support Dr. Piquet’s “focus on translational studies, a foundational component of her research program that emphasizes learning in real time from patients as they experience and recover from symptoms to fine-tune treatments for improved outcomes.”

On June 7 Dion told Hoda Kotb on “Today” that living with Stiff Person Syndrome can feel like “somebody strangling you” and added, “It’s like someone is pushing your larynx. So it’s like you’re talking like that, and you cannot go high or lower. It gets into a spasm.”

The singer announced her diagnosis in 2022 following the cancellation of her planned residency in Las Vegas. Dion has not performed since.

Dion’s Irene Taylor-directed documentary was acquired by Amazon MGM Studios in January. “This last couple of years has been such a challenge for me, the journey from discovering my condition to learning how to live with and manage it, but not to let it define me,” the singer said in a statement at the time.

“As the road to resuming my performing career continues, I have realized how much I have missed it, of being able to see my fans. During this absence, I decided I wanted to document this part of my life, to try to raise awareness of this little-known condition, to help others who share this diagnosis.”

“I Am: Céline Dion” will be released on Prime Video on June 25.

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