Celine Dion Finds Inspiration in Her Three Sons to Combat Her Incurable Illness
Celine has also been open in the past about her struggles with getting pregnant, saying she had all of her kids through in vitro treatments.
Updated June 11 2024, 11:46 a.m. ET
Legendary French Canadian singer Celine Dion is best known for her music. After all, she's been making it most of her life. She wrote her first song when she was just 12 years old, according to her website, and went on to lead one of the most successful careers as a singer — even through motherhood and losing her husband, René Angélil, who died in 2016.
But there's more to Celine than the music she's made and the fans she's inspired. She's a mom, and she's really proud of that. But who are her kids? It looks like she's passed down her love of music to her own children as one of them has followed in her footsteps, releasing his first EP in 2021. Here's everything we know about Celine's kids.
Who are Celine Dion's kids?
Celine has three children with her late husband, René Angélil. Their eldest son, René-Charles, was born in 2001, and is 10 years older than their twin boys, Nelson and Eddy, who were born in 2010. René-Charles has followed in his mother's footsteps and is a musician. In 2021, he released his first EP titled "Casino.5" under the name Big Tip.
But René-Charles isn't very active on social media. In fact, he's only created a handful of posts, with his most recent being in 2021.
Not much is known about Celine's twin boys. Although her social media is mostly about her work, every so often she shows her kids, typically on holidays like Christmas or Mother's Day. Back in May 2021, she said being a mother is a "privilege" on Instagram. She's also posts something about each of them on their birthdays.
During a June 2024 interview with , Celine opened up about her incurable illness, stiff person syndrome, which she was diagnosed with in August 2022. She says that she "finds strength in, and for, her three sons."
"I barely could walk at one point, and I was missing very much living. My kids started to notice. I was like, 'OK, they already lost a parent. I don't want them to be scared.'"
Celine added, "I let them know, 'You lost your dad, mom has a condition and it's different. I'm not going to die. It's something that I'm going to learn to live with."
While fans can learn more about her journey in the documentary I Am: Celine Dion , which is available for streaming on Prime Video on June 25, 2024, Celine continues to let fans in on what is going on and how she's dealing with it.
Celine has also been public about her struggles with getting pregnant, saying that she's had all of her kids through in vitro treatments. She and René tried a number of times to have children during his lifetime. "But we did [have] a miscarriage," she said in a 2010 interview with Oprah. "We tried four times to have a child."
What happened to Celine Dion's husband, René Angélil?
René Angélil is Celine's late husband and father of all three of her children. Their relationship began through music. According to The Sun, he first met her when she was 12. In 1980, he invited her to audition for him and then began to manage her career. He even mortgaged his house to pay for her first album.
Then, when Celine was 18 or 19, they began their relationship, and the two were married on Dec. 17, 1994. But Celine has said her mother wasn't always happy about their relationship. "When I told her I had some really strong feelings for René, she tried everything to kill him and make me snap out of it," she once said to Access Hollywood (per The Huffington Post).
In 1998, René was diagnosed with throat cancer that would ultimately take his life. He died of it in January 2016. In a 2021 interview with Today, Celine said that her husband is still with her and their kids. "I feel like René has given me so much through the years and still today," she said. "I see my kids, I look at them and I still see — we live with him."