“I could’ve died”: Six of the most heartwrenching moments from “I Am: Celine Dion”

At a certain point, while Dion was still performing regularly, her voice began to give out and she needed something to help alleviate the pain but also something that would allow her to perform at such an intense level. “I need my instrument and my instrument was not working,” she says.

“So we started to elevate the medicine. There’s a longevity in the drug, you know? And when your adrenaline kicks in, when you hear the crowd, ‘Celine! Celine! Celine!’ Twenty minutes later, it was gone. From my dressing room, getting backstage, saying good luck to everybody.”

She continues, “But then I feel a spasm and my voice goes up. The medicine was burned out. It was gone. I was to 80 milligrams to 90 milligrams of Valium a day. That’s just one medicine. I don’t want to sound dramatic but I could’ve died.

“I was taking those medicines because I needed to walk. I needed to be able to swallow. I needed medicine to function. One more pill. Two more pills. Five more pills. Too many pills. Show must go on,” she explains.