It’s been a long time since Celine Dion lost the love of her life, René Angélil, to throat cancer, but the iconic singer has never shown any lust regarding finding a new man.
Almost seven years have passed since Angélil passed away at the age of 73. He and Dion enjoyed 21 years of marriage and shared three children at the time of his death in January, 2016.
Upon his passing, Dion understandably fell into a deep hole of grief, and it’s only natural that she still feels that pain today.
“Losing my husband, for my kids to lose their father, it was quite something,” she told TODAY. “I feel like René has given me so much through the years and still today. I see my kids. I look at them—we live with him. We still live with him. He’s part of our lives every day, so I have to say that I feel very, very strong.”
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According to reports, Dion and Angélil first met when the former was just 12 years of age.
Dion’s parents sent a demo tape to Angélil, who at the time handled the career of famous French singer Ginette Reno. Dion sang a song she had written with her mother and brother, and Rene liked what he heard.
So he invited her to audition – and that’s where the real success story began.
“She was this homely little kid named Celine Dion. The mother did all the talking, and the girl never said a word,” Angelil recalled.
“Then she started singing into a pencil, pretending it was a microphone. And what I heard was enough to make me cry. I heard a special voice like I had never heard before.”
Rene decided to dump his other clients and even remortgaged his house to put out Dion’s first album – the rest, as they say, is history.
Rene and Céline’s relationship, meanwhile, began in 1987, and by 1991 they were engaged. Three years later, they married in Montreal, Canada, and in 2000 they renewed their vows in Las Vegas.
René believed in Céline and her career so strongly that he remortgaged his house to finance her first record. He stood by his love through thick and thin, and they went on to have three children together.
They had their first son in 2001, naming him René-Charles Angélil. But, six years later, they felt that something was missing. The couple wanted their son to have a sibling, and Celine and Rene went public with the news that they were trying IVF.
Their first pregnancy via IVF resulted in a miscarriage, but they kept trying – and the seventh attempt proved a charm.
In May 2010, the couple announced that Dion was 14 weeks pregnant with twin boys. Five months later, Dion gave birth to fraternal twins by Caesarean section at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The twins’ names have a very special meaning for Celine.
One was named Eddy, after Dion’s favorite French songwriter, Eddy Marnay, and the other, Nelson, after former South African President Nelson Mandela.
“My greatest reward is my children. Unless you are a mum you don’t know what you’re missing or what it even is really. It felt for me that with all my children another heart grew inside of me,” she said in 2013.
“I don’t believe in the umbilical cord being cut. For me it’s never cut, once you’re a mum you’re a mum for life – it gives you true meaning to your life and it’s the most important job.”
Yet whilst being a mother might be the “most important job” for Dion, being a loving, doting wife to René was also something she placed great weight on. By all accounts, the couple were every bit as smitten with each other after 21 years as they were when they first met, and so naturally, René’s passing was a blow that Dion will likely never fully get over.
Despite her famed singing voice, incredible beauty, and levels of influence and fame, Dion has yet to meet another man after René’s passing.
When asked about potentially dating in the future, Dion told TODAY:
“I don’t know. I have no idea. But right this second, love is so big right now in my life, with my kids, with life itself. I’m not thinking about a relationship and falling in love again. I don’t. Do I have to say that it will never happen anymore? I don’t know. I don’t know.”
I don’t know about you, but I for one hope Celine is happy and thriving. Losing a loved one is never easy, let alone your partner. I can’t begin to imagine her pain.
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