Céline Dion Revealed She Didn't Want Sons To 'Feel The Pressure' After Tragic Loss Of Their Father

Mar 30, 2022 by apost team

Céline Dion is arguably one of the most talented singers of our generation. The Canadian performer sang herself into our hearts when we first got to see her in the 1980s when she won the Eurovision song contest. Her phenomenal rise to superstardom only continued, and before long, she was known to audiences across the world, whose ages span a wide range. After multiple decades in show business, Dion has enjoyed global success, and she's still going strong.

With immense success comes a lot of riches, but despite her countless number one hits and award wins, Dion has proven over the years that she knows happiness in life is about much more than material items. This is why family is of the utmost importance to her.

After she somewhat controversially got together with her manager René Angélil when she was around 17-18 years old, and he was 26 years her senior, Dion went on to prove the naysayers wrong. The couple was married in a beautiful ceremony in 1994, and their relationship stood the test of time when it lasted until his tragic death from cancer in 2016.

Together, she and René had three sons: René-Charles Angélil and twins Nelson and Eddy Angélil. The world got to know René-Charles from when he was a little baby, while the twins were first introduced outside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas back in 2011 as newborns. While Dion mourned the loss of her husband, her three children mourned the loss of their father. Fortunately, they had each other to lean on during such a difficult time.

Dion has overcome many hardships during her lifetime, but nothing could quite compare to the heartache of losing her husband and her brother both within the same week. It was a devastation that swept over the family. CBC reported that hundreds of people attended René's funeral in January 2016, which was held at the Notre Dame Basilica – the same place where René and Dion married in 1994.

Their oldest son René-Charles gave an emotional eulogy at the ceremony. He said:

"15 years is not a long time for a son to get to know his father. You had a busy life but we were communicating through golf, hockey, poker and smoked meat. You are a tough act to follow, but with your help everything is going to be fine."

In June 2019, the family came together once again to honor René's memory at Caesars Palace's Colosseum in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to ET Canada, Dion's late husband had played a pivotal role in her taking up a residency in Las Vegas for so long. She dedicated the final moments of her show to René with the help of her sons.

In a video captured by a fan at her last Las Vegas show, Dion sang "Somewhere Over The Rainbow." In the background were on-stage photos of Dion, her husband and her family playing on a slideshow. After the song finished, Dion's sons walked out on stage to give her roses for her performance and to help pay tribute to their father. Other stage members also came to join, and the group stretched across the stage, all holding hands to take one last final bow.

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A year after René's death, Dion spoke with Extra TV about how she and her three kids had been able to grieve together. "What makes me most proud is to be a mother," she said. "I have three magnificent kids that through them I see my husband and I have the strength today to keep dressing up."

Dion spoke highly about how her children – who were ages 14 and 5 at the time of their father's death – stayed strong during such a challenging time. "To be honest, they're remarkable," Dion said. "They are helping me, I am helping them – it's mutual."

However, Dion never wanted her oldest child, René-Charles, to feel pressured to take on more than he could handle. She explained, "I said to him, 'I never want you to feel the pressure of being the man of the house, you have your own dreams and he is always with you in your heart and I am here for you.'"

Several years have passed since René's passing, and Dion and her sons have continued to keep his memory alive while leaning on one another for support. Speaking with Good Morning America in January 2019, Dion talked about just how much René-Charles really came into his own. 

"He's a normal teenager, growing, trying things, exploring – and I think that's the way it should be," she said. "Sometimes you try to embrace them, sometimes you're trying to help them to find their path, but they have to find their own way at one point because if you pull the cable too, too much, they can really go wild and off."

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