Powerful pop superstar Celine Dion took to social media Friday morning to announce that she was canceling the remainder of her Courage World Tour through April 2024 to focus on her recovery from a rare autoimmune and neurological condition.
Dion, 55, publicly revealed for the first time that she has been battling the condition — known as stiff person syndrome, which causes progressive stiffness and severe muscle spasms — in an emotional Instagram video she posted in the December 2022, when she canceled several events or rescheduled tour dates.
“I’m so sorry to disappoint you all again,” Dion said in Friday’s statement. “I’m working really hard to regain my strength, but tours can be very difficult even when you’re at 100 percent. It’s not fair to you to keep postponing shows, and while it breaks my heart, it’s best to cancel everything now until I’m really ready to get back on stage. I want you all to know that I’m not giving up… And I can’t wait to see you again!”
The remaining tour dates for 2023 were scheduled for the period from August 26 in Amsterdam to October 4 in Helsinki, Finland; then from March 6, 2024 in Prague to April 22, 2024 in London. Tickets purchased for the canceled dates can be refunded through the original point of sale, the statement said.
Before Dion’s tour was suspended in March 2020 due to the pandemic, she had completed the tour’s first 52 dates in North America. “Unfortunately, these spasms affect every aspect of my daily life and sometimes cause difficulty in walking, so I can’t use my vocal cords to sing like I used to,” she said in the one released last year Video.
Dion stars in her debut feature film role opposite Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Sam Heughan in the romantic comedy Love Again, which opens in theaters this month.
After announcing her illness last year, Dion, known for her renditions of ballads like “Because You Loved Me” and “My Heart Will Go On,” drew notable enthusiasm from fans, particularly in French-speaking Quebec, in the Canadian province Dion was born.
