Hoda Kotb Teases Celine Dion Interview: ‘She Almost Died’ Amid Illness

Hoda Kotb had a news-making motive to be “out on project” earlier this week on Right now.

Kotb, 59, sat down with Céline Dion for the singer’s first TV interview since being recognized with stiff-person syndrome in December 2022. “I went to Las Vegas to interview Céline Dion,” Kotb shared on the Thursday, Might 23, episode of Right now With Hoda & Jenna. “It’s a extremely uncommon dialog that she and I had.”

Throughout the one-hour primetime particular, which can air on June 11, Dion, 56, will open up her well being battle and her upcoming Prime Video documentary, I Am Céline Dion, which premieres on June 25.

“[The film] was so jarring to me and shifting that I couldn’t consider what they have been in a position to seize in that documentary,” Kotb stated of the film, including that she “can’t cease eager about it.” She continued: “Céline Dion sooner or later — she is now a lot better — however sooner or later, she nearly died, which is one thing that she says.”

Kotb teased that Dion talked to her “about all the things that she’s been by way of, about her hopeful comeback, what it did to her voice, that stunning voice, and the place she is now,” earlier than gushing, “She was enlightening and delightful and superb.”

Kotb even hinted that the particular will function a little bit of singing from Dion, telling her cohost Jenna Bush Hager, “She sang with me. It was simply, like, an incredible time.”

Dion knowledgeable followers that she had been recognized with a “very uncommon neurological dysfunction” in an emotional December 2022 social media video. She defined that stiff-person syndrome impacts “one thing like one in one million individuals” and was the trigger for “all of the spasms” she had been having.

“[The spasms] have an effect on each facet of my day by day life, typically inflicting difficulties after I stroll and never permitting me to make use of my vocal cords to sing the best way I’m used to,” she shared on the time. On account of her prognosis, she introduced she wouldn’t be resuming her European tour in February 2023 and that extra present dates had been pushed again to 2024.

“I’ve an excellent workforce of docs working alongside me to assist me get higher and my valuable kids, who’re supporting me and giving me hope,” the French-Canadian star added. “I’m working laborious with my sports activities drugs therapist on daily basis to construct again my energy and my potential to carry out once more, however I’ve to confess it’s been a battle.” (Dion shares her son René-Charles, 23, and twins Nelson and Freddy, 13, together with her late husband, René Angélil.)

Céline’s sister Claudette Dion informed the Canadian journal 7 Jours in December 2023 that the pop star didn’t “have management of her muscular tissues.” She went on to notice: “What pains me is that she has all the time been disciplined. She all the time labored laborious. Mother all the time informed her, ‘You’re going to do that proper, you’re going to do that proper,” she added, noting it’s Céline’s “dream” to “return to the stage” ultimately.

Céline stepped out for a uncommon public look on the Grammy Awards in February, throughout which she obtained a standing ovation earlier than presenting the award for Album of the 12 months to Taylor Swift. “She felt the love throughout,” a supply solely informed Us Weekly after the ceremony. “It lifted her spirits.”

One other insider added that her well being situation has “empowered her and altered her mindset.”

A preview of Kotb and Dion’s interview will air Tuesday, June 11, on Right now, adopted by the total primetime particular at 10 p.m. ET.