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Entrevista
à "Hello Magazine" - Agosto de 2002
Celine
Dion: the record breaking superstar reveals her greatest dream - of becoming a
housewife.
She
is one of the most successful female artists in recording history and has
personal fortune estimated at £500 million – but Celine Dion wants nothing
more than to be an ordinary housewife.
“People
think I’m crazy”, she smiles, “But what I want most in the world is to be
a wife and mother. I want to cook, I want to clean and I want to keep house”.
“I
know in my heart of hearts that this will give me the most satisfaction in all
the world”, she continues, “far more than performing to hundreds and
thousands of people. The only audience I need is my husband Rene and my little
boy Rene-Charles”.
She
waves her arms to indicate the sumptuous grandeur of the famous George V hotel
in Paris where she and husband of almost eight years Rene Angelil, 60, and their
18-month-old son Rene-Charles have been staying the past week. “My son is
playing upstairs in a huge room full of antiques and gorgeous things, she says,
to many people this would be a dream come true, but that is not what I want”.
“I
would like to be playing on the floor in a simple room with my son where he
could throw his toys and nothing would matter. I would like to make my own
coffee and make my son his milk. Not served in a silver jug but in his own
bottle or cup”.
Some
may think that theses are nothing but the spoilt musings of a pampered
superstar. But to truly understand 34-year-old Celine Dion is to understand
where she has come from and what she has been through in the past few years.
The
youngest of 14 born into a poor Quebecois family, the Dions never knew wealth or
luxury - but Celine soon discovered she had a priceless voice, the story of her
meteoric rise to the top is well known. She has now sold an estimated 150
million records, won five Grammies and will be eternally recognized for her
greatest hit, "My heart will go on" from Titanic.
But just three years ago, tragedy struck, Celine’s husband Rene, who had been
the singers manager since she was a teenager and oversaw her rise to fame, was
diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo months of debilitating chemotherapy.
“It
was the biggest shock of our lives”, Celine says, “you get into this
position in life where you almost think nothing can touch you and then this
happens. I thought I would lose him. He thought he would lose me. We were so
scared, but we went through it together and even the pain brought us closer”.
The
following year they decided to try for a child and Celine underwent IVF, which
was necessary because of her husband’s illness. The day she found she was
pregnant, Rene was declared in remission. Their baby was born in January last
year.
“We
faced life and death together in the space of just a matter of days, she says.
The whole experience changed my life far more radically that ever before. I have
gone from great poverty to great wealth but those are just material things. Now
the very principles of my life were turned upside down. My priorities altered
then and they have never and will never, change”.
“I
used to be a complete workaholic. I was like a singing athlete who lived to
train and perform. That life is over for me now. I would rather spend time with
Rene-Charles and Rene than get on a plane or spend hours in a studio”.
“Rene
stopped being my manager and concentrated on being my husband and father to
Rene-Charles”, she continues, “I concentrated on being his wife. We came to realize
it was not our work that held us together but our love and that love was the
most important thing we had in the world”.
A
few years ago, she toyed with the idea of retiring. But then she was made an
incredible offer by a Las Vegas conglomerate. She is being paid a reported $100
million over a three year period to perform at a theatre built specially for her
at Caesars palace, five nights a week, ten months of each year. Her opening
concert will be next March.
Celine
couldn’t be more delighted. “This is the most normal life I could be
offered. I can be with my husband and my child all day, put Rene-Charles to bed,
go to the theatre, perform and be home within 30 minutes of the show closing. No
more planes, no more countries, just one place, one life, one home”.
Her
new employers offered to build her a mansion in Las Vegas as part of the deal,
but Celine made a more unusual demand, “I asked them to build me a small
house, three bedrooms upstairs and three rooms downstairs with a nice neat
garden”.
“I
have big homes, I have a mansion. I want to spend time in a simple family house
with no staff at all. Just me, Rene-Charles and Rene. I will cook and clean and
be a proper, normal mum for once in my life”.
Yet
the future is not completely without anxieties. Celine would desperately like
another child. I have another child already, she says, rather confusingly,
before explaining, “When I underwent IVF, other eggs were frozen because we
were advised that this was what we had to do because of the chemotherapy. I
would dearly like to become a mother again. More than anything in the world I
would like this to happen”.
She
pauses, “so many wonderful, things have happened in my life and I have the
love of my family and the love and support of my wonderful fans. Nobody gets
everything they want in life and you have to appreciate what you have when you
have it. If I never become a mother again I will always have Rene-Charles, who
is my angel from heaven. I am a lucky woman not because of all the success I
have but because I have love”.
“When
my contract is over in Las Vegas I am going to spend the rest of my time
enjoying that love and giving it back. You may not see me much again but you
will know that I am happy. I will be more happy as a wife and mother than as a
superstar”.
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