Celine Dion Discloses Rare Neurological Disorder, Pushes Dates of Courage World Tour to 2024

Celine Dion is pushing and canceling dates of her Courage World Tour again to address a diagnosis of a rare neurological condition known as Stiff-Person.

In an Instagram video posted Thursday (below), the Grammy-winning music icon opened up about her condition and its connection to the health issues she’s faced over the past year, which have affected her ability to tour, telling fans, “I’ve always been an open book and I wasn’t ready to say anything before, but I’m ready now.

“Recently I have been diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder called Stiff-Person Syndrome, which affects something like one in a million people,” she said. “While we’re still learning about this rare condition, we now know this is what’s been causing all of the spasms that I’ve been having.”

The singer shared that she’s been “dealing with problems with my health for a long time and it’s been really difficult for me to face” the effects of the condition.

“Unfortunately, the spasms affect every aspect of my daily life, sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I’m used to,” she shared. “It hurts me to tell you today this means I won’t be ready to restart my tour in Europe in February.”

Dion shared that her team of doctors and sports medicine therapist are currently working to “build back my strength and my ability to perform again.

“I have a great team of doctors working alongside me to help me get better and my precious children who are supporting me and giving me hope,” she concluded. “All I know is singing, it’s what I’ve done all my life and it’s what I love to do the most.”

Dion’s Courage World Tour, her 14th concert tour, was originally announced in April 2019 and slated to kick off that September. That month, a series of Montreal dates were postponed due to a throat virus before several U.S. dates were rescheduled due to a cold. The entire North American tour would then be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, Dion had completed the first 52 North American shows of her world tour.

Since then, Dion has delayed her Vegas residency and canceled the entire North American leg of her Courage World Tour, attributing the date changes and cancellations to the ongoing muscle spasms. In April of this year, the singer pushed European and U.K. dates to February 2023, but with today’s messages, has announced those spring 2023 shows will move to 2024 and eight summer 2023 performances have been canceled.