English transcript of a French interview

[Victorine]

Hi, guys! Here is the transcript of a French interview Celine had in September 2004. We find a poetical Celine while talking about what she misses, her son, her wish to have another child, her two years off, the way she wanna raise her son, and other topics.

PS: As you know, I speak French, so I just hope you’ll understand some phrases or words that, I think, doesn’t quite sound as good English. But enjoy all the same!

 

Interview with Marie-France Bazzo for

Radio Canada,

On September 6, 2004

 

 

M-F: Hello, Celine Dion!

Celine: Hello!

M-F: You settle down for 3 years in Las Vegas with this show, you’ve become sedentary. The fans come to you, you have a home there, a routine. It is quite seldom in the life of an artist to stop like that, at this point. Physically, psychologically, what’s it like ? It’s been one year now that you experience this life, what’s it like ?

Celine: Of course it’s a lot of pressure, it’s hard. I’m gonna start telling you the bad side of things … to be away from home.

M-F: But it’s your new home now!

Celine: It’s our home, but we don’t come from Las Vegas, we don’t come from the United-States, we come from Quebec, we’re proud of it. We miss our family, our friends, our relatives… the seasons, the lawn…

M-F: The seasons, yes!

Celine: No, but it’s true! Over there, when it’s 117 (temperature), it’s difficult to play outside, to go out for some fresh air, it’s difficult for a singer to live there! First, it’s difficult for a singer to perform 5 nights a week, it’s difficult for an artist to live in the desert, it’s difficult for a human being to live in the desert! First, all the time, it’s always dry, it’s… we are dried all the time! So when you also raise a child there, apart from singing and show business, to live there! When it’s 117, however much you try to tell your child “Come, let’s go cycling, come let’s go for a swim” it’s exhausting! The heat is just unbearable. So there are bad sides, and when you ask an artist “What of the sacrifices, what is it like to be on this level ?” well it’s part of it. To be away from your family, you miss all these little details… Since I got here, I’ve been walking barefoot because I’ve been missing the open air, the fresh air, the night falling, when it drops to 70, we don’t have that in Vegas! It’s very rare. To walk over the lawn, to listen, to hear the trees, to live by the riverside, to go canoeing… It seems like every single moment becomes more and more important at one point…growing older, and when you experience different things as well. I feel I enjoy much more what I’m doing, the things that surrounded me, that were part of my everyday life…

M-F: Normality!

Celine: Normality! You come back home.

M-F: What’s the name in Vegas ?

Celine: It’s our home, but temporally. We’re very lucky to have had the chance to go this far in our career. Every artist doesn’t have a show with Franco Dragone, with a team, the best dancers in the world, an extraordinary team, I’m not gonna talk about the show but it’s a great opportunity in show business. Also as a mother, especially as a mom! To be able to come back home every night, knowing where…to sleep in the same bed, knowing where your belongings are, to be stable for your child!

Marie-France: You’re telling me Las Vegas, for you, is the conciliation job/family, is that right ?

Celine: Well, for us, it’s…

M-F: It’s funny!

Celine: I don’t think I would’ve been able to tour the world with a child. I’ve never toured the world with the eyes of a tourist or someone on holiday. I was focused as if it was the Olympics every night… I go to London, I go to Paris, I go to Italy, I go to…well, traveling, being focused and getting ready for the show. Now, I have a child, this is our priority! And I wouldn’t … I wouldn’t like to miss out on the true values, so to me, a true value is a stability… To have a base, a foundation, to feel my son is good, if my son’s alright. I don’t want my son to be raised by nannies every 3 or 4 months, then we change, I don’t want my son to live backstage, I don’t want my son to be raised…I don’t wanna live this way. I already impose a birth to my son, a life, the show business… It’s a big gift we offered to ourselves. I’d like to try and bring him a stability, a comfort. And for me, to have a stable home, not to travel and change hotel every week, for me, is important now.

M-F: Do you now realize that you began you were very young, everybody remembers. It’s been like…23 years now!

Celine: We stopped counting!

M-F: You were really young, a teenager, when it was tour after tour and everything! Do you think, Celine, you were, even though there were fabulous moments that no one else will ever live…do you think you have been deprived of something in the life of a teenager ?

Celine: No, no! I don’t think because… first of all, I never think about it! I don’t think about my youth, the time already gone by. It’s part of me, I seldom look back over the past years. But of course, if, in an interview, I take a long time to think about it, and I look at a 12-13-year-old teenager, for sure I didn’t go through the same things, and I missed out a lot of things, but which ones ? Which ones because at that time, I was never forced to do anything. I it was who leaped onto the stepping stone, I was just told “Celine, don’t worry, there’s water in the pool, it is well-tempered, you can jump”. I wasn’t jostled. I’ve always been encouraged, but not hurried, not pushed. So at 12 years old I steeped in an environment and a show business that…which I wanted to be part of. So at 36 I can’t tell you “Yes, I am pitiful”, “Poor little girl, at 12, she didn’t experience the same things as the other ones, it’s not funny”. You know, you can keep on digging the earth, there will always be little insects! But when I look back, it’s part of my baggage today, and I’m very very proud of it. And on the contrary, the fact that I started very young, I would be able to stop earlier, to have a break and to say…I think I’m gonna live my past in the future: when I would stop, because I’m still in the whirl, when I’d stop, I’ma have to…skim/flip through, look at some pictures and live these moments. I’ve cried so much, it was wonderful when I was young, I couldn’t manage to control my feelings, my emotions because I didn’t understand them. Now I do. So when I have time to live those moments, maybe in 5, 3, 10 years from now, it will have been even more wonderful I think.

M-F: How do you feel right now, do you think you are come to some point in your career, to a turning point perhaps with this show in Las Vegas, with this mother’s life, how are you in your life, in your career right now ?

Celine: I feel we are coming full circle, I’ve done many things all the same, I’ve toured the world, I’ve done amazing things. I’m very proud of my career, and especially the fact that I knew how to, somewhere without sounding pretentious, how to stay true to the same person, with the same values…Because of course I could’ve lost the cards many times, gone off my head many times. It’s easy. Everything’s possible in this job. We’re able to do lots of crazy things…that can be regretted later. I’ve had the chance to be surrounded with the best people. I think I could have made it in other ways. It could’ve been… You know, I could’ve taken a blow, I could’ve been on drugs…Well I launched into shoes… instead of buying drugs or drinking.

(Laughter)

Celine: Listen, I had all the reasons in the world to…everybody, I mean, we’re protected from nothing. But I had… You know, right from the start, setting out…My mother wrote my first song, had a manager listen to my voice, an impresario and said like “I introduce my daughter with a song of mine”. Setting out, I wouldn’t sing anything and anywhere. This I realize much more now, I knew it at that time but it seems I appreciate it more today. I think you appreciate so many things when you grow older, and it’s wonderful, to grow older. But it could’ve ended up… ended up, full stop, leading nowhere, or with a sad ending. But… so when I think of the show business, I was very lucky it turned out so well. But at 36, I am not tempted to do it all over again. To go away in the cinema, in 2 or 3 years, it will be pleasant for me, because it will be a challenge. I love challenges, and do something new. With the years, at 36, I’d love to have another child. We talked a lot about it, but to answer your question, about the full circle and this turning point, it’s all the same…great projects that mean a great deal, and we’d love to try and have another child. I won’t try to have a child at 45 of course, then as soon as Vegas is over, we’d love to have another baby. So for me, it’s like a turning point to try and come full circle, to move on to other matters. But what’s it all about ? To have another child, to live another love story. Then, I feel I’m at the best…in my life. I don’t want… youth is something to me, but maturity and getting conscious of the importance of life, quality, to be well-surrounded. But it seems at 36, then 37, then 38, I feel I’m gonna enjoy.

M-F: You said “Where I am”, without false modesty, you are good, excellent, an international superstar…you talked about talent. There’s hard work, really. I know you don’t look back in the past, but still when you take stock of everything that’s happened, Celine Dion, what are you the most proud of ?

Celine: Of the person I stayed true to. I’ve always been proud of my entourage, the values my parents gave me, I am able to focus, to go through some business, I can be strong as well. I think that… it’s all the same…wonderful that I stayed true to myself through all these…everything I’ve gone through, since the age of 12, we never stopped for 2 seconds.

M-F: What were you about to say ?

Celine: I do not know, I was seeking, I couldn’t find the word, I don’t have much vocabulary! In the course of time, it may have improved but… There wasn’t much study. I started to sing I was very young, but there wasn’t… I didn’t study.

M-F: Do you regret ?

Celine: I don’t but… For sure it has… It has always been a harm. When I was asked to write, write down a note, “Write something for us, a thought or…” What I would’ve loved to say, at that very moment, it’s not that…I didn’t have the thoughts or the words, but I didn’t know how to write them. So I kept to… I was satisfied with the basics, the minimum, strict necessary, not to make any mistake. Because I was too professional, I couldn’t make mistakes! So I said what I thought, what I felt inside and it was big. I would’ve loved to express it on paper, and pencil, but I couldn’t. So often I seek words. It’s not a regret, but I hope… I hope my son will be able to do all the same…to study more than his mother, being able to express himself as much verbally as writing. That’s what I wish the most. But the most important thing is that he’s gonna be a good person, and fair. So I am very cherished by all that.

M-F: Which words, I ask to all my guests that are interviewed, Celine, 3 words to define themselves.

Celine: Oh, my God! To try and talk of oneself, I think is the worst for me. Everyone always asks me lots of questions, I’m always the one to answer. Sometimes I say to myself, I should be the one to ask questions, I it is who should learn. I didn’t have time to learn. I’ve done things, I’ve lived moments, I haven’t had time to live them, truly. So when I’m interviewed, and I talk of what I’ve done, the time it took to record…how I lived this or that moment, so far, it’s ok. But to talk about me, it’s horrible.

M-F: But you said before…

Celine: It’s a little scary!

M-F: You almost said strong.

Celine: I think so. It’s difficult to talk about oneself. It always sounds pretentious. “Oh I’m strong” and “True she’s good”… It’s difficult to talk about oneself, but I think I’m strong… I think so. I am a strong person, cuz I think I’m a strong character. Perseverance…to go through all this. There was a lot of sacrifices. And for me, it was not like “Oh yes, but here, how…” No. I didn’t ask questions. It has never been the ‘B Plan’ for me, it’s always been the ‘A Plan’. And I was very lucky, I didn’t go to school for a long time, so I learn till “A”. So far, it was ok.

M-F: Strong perseverance, lucky, it’s not bad!

Celine: Lucky. Are you ok with that ?

M-F: Yes! I think so!

(Laughter)

M-F: Are you, it’s really something because we meet few people who excel as you do…Who do you refer to when you are on this level ? Are you competitive ? Who do you refer to ?

Celine: To myself…Yes, I am very competitive. It’s part of the game in a way because…if you’re not competitive and you don’t have a strong personality, I wouldn’t be where I am today! My husband has a strong personality and so have I. We saw and wanted the same thing, we have strong personalities and are very competitive. On the contrary, of course, when we start talking about singers, I have… You know, Barbra Streisand, it was a big kick (Canadian phrase) to sing with her, it was a feat, a dream. But on the contrary… You know, I’ll always remember, when I was a kid, I used to watch american shows from time to time, I didn’t watch TV much, we used to play outside, but it happened sometimes, we watch the american TV. And when I watched big shows, Grammys, American Music Awards, I was impressed. I could see myself there! But there are many steps obviously. But it takes a personality do make it.

M-F: But you made it…

Celine: But I…

M-F: What is your motivation ?

Celine: I think I’ve always wanted to fight, but against myself. When I managed to do something… You know, I didn’t have time to watch other singers, they took care of my career. When you are in hot water, it’s not time to see what’s going on outside. I am in the whirl, and it’s hot, you have to enjoy, and it swirls, and let’s go, and you’re dizzy, and everything! Who inspires you, who are your idols… You know, I spent my time between English and French, in French, in English, the commercials, then shows, then some time off. When I had a break, I didn’t go and see others’ shows! I was exhausted, tired! I rested a little bit. Then when the album was released, I had to go on radio, and interviews, and photo shootings! There was always something. I never had time, and I got a block when I was interviewed, I was asked “Who are your idols, who do you listen to ?” First of all, at home, I don’t listen anything.

M-F: Oh yeah, silence!

Celine: Silence. I listen to the nature, my heart beatings, my feelings, the others’ feelings. For me, to take a cup of tea with a biscuit, open the window and listen to the birds, and talk with my mother, and fall asleep in a sofa, it’s amazing for me.

M-F: Do you still have a break as you did before: days in complete silence.

Celine: It happened not too long ago. I got tired in Las Vegas, after so many shows, so I stopped talking for about one week. It happens less and less. It’s a routine now. I travel less, it’s less difficult, even though it’s 5 nights a week, it’s always the same songs. It’s as if the muscles were set, I still do vocal exercises, but being silent…is not as often as before.

M-F: Do you ever fear, Celine?

M-F: I think I am…My husband thinks I am negative. Because my first answer, my first instinct, is always no. But yet I am very positive. And I think that… there’s always different point of views. I think I say no because I’m too positive. I explain: I always want, I always think “But if the weather’s not fine”, and he always says “No, no, no, no”, he doesn’t even wanna see if the weather’s will be fine. But I want to be ready. I am so positive, I want it to work so bad that I say “Wow”. If the weather’s fine, there’s no problem. If not, and everybody thought it would be fine, you have a problem. Who is negative, who is positive, how can you see ? Well you can say I am negative, but if it rains, I’m ready.

Marie-France: So…

Celine : I’m ready for bad weather.

M-F: Fear…

Celine: Because everybody thinks the weather will be fine “Don’t say so, it will be fine, it will be fine!” At one point, you can have bad surprises. I don’t want bad surprises, I don’t want to expect nothing. And I don’t wanna be surprised, I wanna be ready. Fine weather, bad weather, I wanna know what to do.

M-F: Sometimes Celine do you feel like a product?

[…]

Celine: Sometimes yes. Sometimes yes, when the schedule is tight. Sometimes I say to René “It’s nonsense!”. We travel, air conditioning, planes… I am fragile to be honest with you. I arrive, to settle down in a hotel room, then the next day, got to get up at 5, make-up at 5:40, sing with this humidity. I don’t sing at my utmost, I don’t…You know, 100%, you can say it’s 100% each time. Sometimes, I say “It’s nonsense!”. When I do something, if you give me a schedule, I have 3 days off, then 4 days of work, then 2 days off. I can tell you my first 4 days and then my 2 days, they don’t matter. Because I prefer to work first, and then, leave me alone, I was on holiday till the end. Because if you plan something in 3 days, then something in 7 days, I’m already getting ready mentally for the next business. Well I never take a break. I am cut out for that! The others know how to switch off, they’re able to, but I ain’t, I’m plugged on 220 all the time! And sometimes, she gets tired, and I find she exaggerates! Celine’s fine, it’s ok, she’s capable. Celine is capable, but sometimes she’s no longer capable! And that’s where they exaggerate. Because there are requests from Toronto, from Montreal, from Las Vegas, from Paris, and everything’s important. Everything is important, everyone wants a chance, everyone want to talk with Celine, everyone wants to have an interview. Celine is one! And sometimes she’s tired. We are so strong (her mother and herself) that we’re able to go through… everything! And sometimes we are sought.

M-F: Tired sometimes, pestered sometimes. Are there moments you are tired to do that ?

[…]

Celine: Tired…Oh, maybe not “tired” but when I’m at home with my son, my husband, my family, the children run in the yard, my grandchildren, Anne-Marie’s children, Patrick, and everything. Of course, happiness, this is our happiness. You know, to have nothing else but to enjoy life, beautiful things…

M-F: We’re coming back to normality.

Celine: Yes. I miss it a lot, because I didn’t live it, and I long to live it, but not for 2 weeks. I long to live it for a long time. So it depends ; to say “tired”, no. Anxious to get to the point where it’ll no longer be 5 days a week. Because it’s hard. It’s hard. I am privileged to do that, but it’s tough. It’s a great deal. And I’m longing to say… You know, a sabbatical year, ok, but it flies when you have 9 months of pregnancy, then you give birth, and…The next sabbatical year, you have to make a record to get ready for the come-back. 2 years, you can say 1 year, it flies. Time flies, too fast. I think growing older, it goes faster. You know, you lose your parents, you say “How come ?” You know, flowers, my mother’s bunches, my family is like a bunch. The others are older than me…you got to water sometimes. Then the flowers start to… you grow older.

M-F: You talked about the death of the parents. You lost your father…

Celine: Last year.

M-F: …Last year. Did you have time, with the pressure, produce, produce, produce, assume, the spectacles, you are strong indeed. Did you have time to mourn ?

Celine: I don’ know. Sometimes I wonder. I have small matters, foolish, and I say to myself…”Why am I so tense, why do I have muscular tensions, why does my neck hurt”, etc. But at one point, it snowballs. To sing is very, very physical. So when there’s a physical problem, something doesn’t work, I don’t go to a garage mechanic. So, I say to myself “Did I live the death, the loss of my father, so well, that it’s not normal ? Or I didn’t live it, and I have to.” Well I do not know. I don’t know, I gotta wonder, did I have time to wonder ? I don’t know. When people ask me “You know, you lost your father, did you have some time to live it ?” I realize he’s not here any more, but he’s so present at the same time. Sometimes I say “Well, he’s not here, Papa. You know, he’s gone”. And then I say “Did I have time to live it, or do I live it so well?” Is it possible to live one’s father’s death so well ? Is it possible ? Am I too strong ?

M-F: Who do you talk to ?

Celine: To myself.

M-F: Because there’s no me in you.

Celine: I use you to question myself!

M-F: Go for it !

(Laughter)

Celine: No, it’s ok, it’s over! But I sometimes wonder because with all these little problems, and I go to the doctor, I’m asked “You’ve been ill since your father’s death, you’re not fine, do you…Did you live this death ?” What do I answer ? Well it seems I don’t know. Am I that strong ? Is it possible I am so strong that I lived it well ? Or is it still inside ? I don’t know.

M-F: You shall see!

Celine: We shall see!

M-F: We shall see!

Celine: To be continued!

M-F: To be continued indeed! It’s funny, at the start of the interview, Celine, you talked about here compared to Vegas, your home is here…

Celine: The roots!

M-F: Yes!

Celine: And every time there is talk of you, the little girl from Charlemagne, very Quebecer, at the same time very integrated in America where you worked, where you live…

Celine: Yes.

M-F: Where your son was born. Do you wonder about your identity, or for you, is it clear about who you are ?

Celine: It is very clear about who I am, and it’s very clear about where my days will end. It can’t be clearer. If I go to my last legs, I know precisely where it will end, here is our home. At home. Quebec is for me, it was my first steps. And all the same I could’ve… people are free. I could’ve wanted to move on in Europe, or in the United States, and ask my green card, and say “I’m american!” I work a lot in the United States, I would’ve loved to have an international career, but I would’ve always wanted so. I’ve always wanted to sing in English and carry on in French. Even if I sell a lot more records in the United States, it’s maybe interesting, to sell records, and do shows over there, it’s an opportunity in the show business. But we talk about true values, heart beatings, I don’t talk about my bank account, my heartbeat is in Quebec! I don’t know if there’s a part of me that remains here every time I move or if a part of Quebec follows me. I don’t know. It started here…

M-F: It’s plain to see there’s hitch!

Celine: Almost every night “Hello Celine! We’re proud!” Every time; it gives wind under my wings.

M-F: Let’s talk about money!

Celine: Let’s go!

M-F: You have much money, you earn a good lot, you give also, you give some time away…

Celine: We pay a lot of taxes!

M-F: For certain!

Celine: Much money has consequences!

(Laughter)

M-F: What I mean is that, money just like that, is abstract for us, for the average man. How do live that ? You haven’t always had that much. You come from a modest family. Does money remain abstract or do you think about it often ?

Celine: The moment is think about it is to… is when I say “We are lucky”. You know, you realize… You know, there are big problems in Quebec…hospital for instance. You know, I say to myself “All the same, it’s nonsense. In the United States, it costs a lot, you’re treated… there are many cares here, but it’s a problem that everyone… We’d love to have another hospitals, more staff, so when I think about money, it’s mostly when… You know, when my husband got sick, he underwent heavy treatments, that wouldn’t have been possible for us if we hadn’t had money. You know, he was having chemotherapy, radiations, and fortunately we had…yes, there were doctors, because there was money, and he was treated. I found the best school for our son, the best show, to give to the fans something exceptional, and that also, costs money! But especially health-wise. You know, when my father…my father was sick, he was treated here, but right away, I didn’t want him to wait. I had him come to the United States so that he could be diagnosed, with cancer, but we had the answer right away. There wasn’t much time left to live, but we wanted to know what to keep to. And it’s tiring to tell because…there’s money, and it can be hastened. I think about the studies of my son, about his future. I’d love to make him feel secure later. So I put money aside for him. But it doesn’t mean anything at the same time, you can have as much money as you want, you can be unhappy. When I was younger, we didn’t have money, but I always said, all the time, all the time “We’ve always been wealthy because we are rich in values.” My parents always gave all the family a true base, a true foundation, true values, to respect oneself, each other, banal stuff that are in the end not so banal. These are true true things that are important to get on…So, when I think about money, you know when I was young, I didn’t think about it, I didn’t have any, but we were rich in values. Today I’m proud of it, we are as rich in values as before, and I’m proud, I realize more, it didn’t go to my head, and I appreciate it. Also I appreciate the fact that the people surrounding me knew how to save the little girl I was, but all the same… You know, when you have money…however much I say money, it’s not important, it’s not true, it’s not true! Whether it’s for the future of your children or your own projects or…your own problems of health, when you have money…it helps.

M-F: Are you worried about money with René-Charles and the other child you would possibly have ? Values, I understand that… they can be handed down, but money…

Celine: It’s a pity that…

M-F: What do worry about ?

Celine: I’m worried. I try not to worry because it’s our role, as parents to see and make understand that the priorities aren’t monetary. I talked about my eldest son with my mother. “Mom, I was raised in cashmere, and we wore these holey skin-tights that other brothers and sisters had worn.” I was the last one, I wore this garment. That’s maybe why today I love garments, that I buy lots of them, and shoes, I don’t know. But … I think “So that René-Charles can have true values as ours, do I have to put him to bed in drawers ?” kidding of course, asked her but she understood what I meant. She said to me “Of course Celine you can’t make René-Charles wear holey skin-tights, and put him to bed in a drawer so that he has the same values as you later. You knew how to get by. But it’s your turn now. Nobody’s telling you the role of parent is easy. It will be your struggle… You wanted to have a child, you now have money, you have a safe future. As your son doesn’t wear holey skin-tights, he lives in affluence. And when he lives in affluence, we have to inculcate in him priority values. But you’re not told it’s easy.”

M-F: Yes.

Celine: But I can’t tell you we don’t spoil him, it’s not true. Because each parent in the world, what he wants the most, is to spoil their child. And when I say to spoil, I do not necessarily say spoiled rotten, and buy anything he wants, right. To spoil of beautiful things, toys we can afford. Toys, fantasy, and everything. Yes. I spoil him, but it doesn’t bother me to say he’s very spoilt. He lives in affluence. The life he leads is not a normal life of a 3-year-old little boy. First of all, he’s got very famous parents. When we go outside, his parents doesn’t belong to him completely. He feels it, he knows it. So when we’re at home or when we go outside, we go out with René-Charles for example. In a restaurant or go and play mini-pot for instance with René-Charles, I always ask to the security man “If you see my son playing, and I’m busy, you ask the fans coming to see me to wait please.” I cannot let all the fans wanting autographs or pictures encroach upon the life of my son. The time he has with his mother and his father, at that moment, is a moment in family, a familial moment. I have, the mother, the father, to say “I can sign autograph, I want to be photographed, but when you see I am playing mini-pot with René-Charles and I am not waiting for something, you make them wait. If they don’t wanna wait, I’m sorry! But if they want to wait, when I have some time, and René takes control with his son to go and play another hole and I have 2 seconds, I will be delighted.” But it’s our role to have eyes around the heart and around the head to say “It’s my turn to help my son”. Because otherwise, this child won’t have parents. “My mother have sung all her life, the fans mattered most, I didn’t have a mother” I do not want to hear that, I do not want to be blamed for that. I am not at home 24 hours a day. When I leave my son, he knows where I go, and that I come back. If my son wants to be backstage, at first he didn’t want to, he accept show business, because at first it was difficult for him. Instinctively, I don’t know why, everything was refusal to him. Everything that had to do with show business, the people, the festivities, Chantal, Marie-José, Jean-Claude, every single feast, he was panic-stricken , he cried, the applauds, the public, his mother’s songs on the radio, everything was difficult for René-Charles. Did he feel his mother maybe didn’t want to come back in show business, just like that, that she wanted to stay in Quebec, with her lawn, her cakes, “Did you want to stay there ?” Well maybe yes! Maybe yes. So I had the feeling my son felt that, he knows “I gotta get used to the idea of another moment of show business, and I will accept it, I decided so”. He made his own therapy. It took maybe 1 year and a half, 2 years. He’s 3 and a half today and I want to protect him. Not to hide him, and put clothes on his head, sheet over his head, it’s not gonna protect him. This is to blind him, completely take it off and say “What Mom did wasn’t right, so I put a veil on you, and…” No! Mommy’s a singer, Daddy takes care of Mom and René-Charles, he thinks Caesars Palace belongs to us !

(Laughter)

Celine: Every time we go somewhere, we settle here, we have a home, there is no neighbor! He thinks “It’s nonsense! Life belongs to me.” So, we have to show him beautiful things through affluence, but especially to tell him “Yes, René-Charles, your Mom, your Dad, we’re famous, and you too, you are famous”. Even on Christmas, in the family, you know, our families don’t meet very often, and I pay attention sometimes because everybody’s like “Hell René-Charles!” They’re all coming. Not meaning bad, but there’s a lot more attention on him than any other little boy in the family for example, of the same age! Because René-Charles, he’s blond, he looks like his grandfather, he’s got blue eyes, blue sky eyes, curly blond, so everybody comes to see him. I see it, everybody gives him kisses, and then at one point, I take him, I take a break, OK, time out. (Celine sighs with relief) Let’s relax! It’s quite something for a 3-and-a-half-year-old boy to live that. But if his mother talks about it with him, if we live it together, I think he will get through.

M-F: Celine, do you feel more…do you feel more Celine or more Dion?

Celine: Oh, I feel Tanguay also from time to time and Angélil as well! I don’t know, for the fans, I am Celine. “Celine!” You know, I think there’s no other singer called Celine. Well I don’t think! Celine, it has been…

M-F: It has been a character!

Celine: I don’t know, but the fans call me Celine. I want to say I have some Dion in the nose because I’m proud of my father. I want to bear his name because I am proud to bear his name, and they wanted so much to change my name at the beginning of my career. Especially in English because “Dion, DILLON ? DILLION ?” I want to be called by my name, I am…It’s mine! You may have a name that doesn’t sound very show biz, but what is a name that sounds show biz, that doesn’t sound show biz ? Another trial! They will know how to pronounce your name later! Well, I kept my name, I’m very proud of it. I have some Tanguay in the name also, my mother’s name, and I’m proud to be married with my husband who…René Angélil. I would say I have some Celine Dion Tanguay Angélil. I bear all this.

M-F: Celine, if everything was to be done all over again, 3 full stops…

Celine: (She takes a deep breath) I would surely say artistically speaking, as a singer on the radio, I would say “I wouldn’t change anything”. But as we are intimate…I don’t know if I would start again…I don’t know… I don’t know. We shall have a talk in 10 years!

M-F: OK!

(Laughter)

Marie-France: Thank you very much for this interview.

Celine: It was a pleasure.

 

Alright now if you think that my English is good enough, I’m able to do some more transcripts from French TV shows. Just tell me. And even though this forum is not to learn English, some help with the mistakes I made (cuz there must be some!) will be appreciated. Thank you all !!

[Ania4]

Thanks

How long did it take you to translate this ???

wow...

[Bellamy]

you must spend a lot of time to do this. thanks.

[Ethan]

It must have taken a lot of hard work for you Victorine to do this. I respect this a lot!

 

/ Ethan

[Mozinha]

I remember listening to this interview last year but I had forgotten most of it.

Thanks so much for sharing this with us

 

Céline is really a remarkable woman. I love to see the way she is raising her son and how she is so realistic about her life.

She makes me feel so proud

[Mozzy88]

Wooow...great job!

 

Thanks!

[Linda]

Thank you very much for translating this interview

[piglot82]

Thank you so much.

[adi dion]

thank you very much!!

[Victorine]

The difficulty was not in fact to translate the interview, but rather to write it on the computer...well it must have taken...just a few hours!!!

Thank you for answering.

I have some TV French shows that I can translate for all of the fans here, such as Vivement Dimanche (a famous show on France hosted by a friend of Celine's Michel Drucker): One on March 28, 2002, and another one while she was pregnant in December 2000 ; I have Fréquenstar, hosted by Laurent Boyer on M6 (in June 98, 1996 and also in November 2003 (with her blond hair cut) ; also with Julie Snyder, at the top of her career (while on tour Let's Talk About Love)... and others. So just ask what you would like !!!

[nano]

thank you so much

[SFchick]

The difficulty was not in fact to translate the interview, but rather to write it on the computer...well it must have taken...just a few hours!!!

Thank you for answering.

I have some TV French shows that I can translate for all of the fans here, such as Vivement Dimanche (a famous show on France hosted by a friend of Celine's Michel Drucker): One on March 28, 2002, and another one while she was pregnant in December 2000 ; I have Fréquenstar, hosted by Laurent Boyer on M6 (in June 98, 1996 and also in November 2003 (with her blond hair cut) ; also with Julie Snyder, at the top of her career (while on tour Let's Talk About Love)... and others. So just ask what you would like !!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

OH MY GOD!!!! Thank you btw this is brill!

 

Can you translate the one where Julile is interviewing her in a studio erm i cant remember what its called but she has a black dress on and she is talking about the lets talk about love album!

 

Ive always wanted to have that translated

[Victorine]

I don't clearly see what you mean. A black dress you say ? Well, I'ma check that. Meanwhile, if you give me more details, that would help me. Thanks.

[SFchick]

This dress

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v415/friedls/Julie1.jpg

[Victorine]

Thank you. That was a good show and I'ma translate it for you (but it'll take some time, OK ?). Moreover, as it was broadcast in Canada, they speak in a very "Candian way". There are many words and phrases that are only used in this country. But I'll do it !!

[SFchick]

Oh thank you sooooooooooo much!!

 

Much apprecited and yeah take ya time honey no rush!

Edited September 1, 2005 at 12:22 PM by SFchick

[Victorine]

I'm just so excited !!!

[Koolan]

Wow, thank's so much for spending the time to translate it for us! I hope you get enough sleep these days.

 

PS Your English is very good.

[one heart]

thanks

[aniaa19]

I'M so happy to read this translate interview , this great job, I liked this, thank you

[martele]

thank you so much for this transcript. the interview is very interesting, very intimate. is there somewhere a video of this interview?

[dancer105]

OMD!!!! :clap: thanks sooo much! don't worry about your english... it's like

almost perfect. you're awesome for taking the time to translate these interviews for us who wish we knew french. lol I have always wondered about the Michel Drucker interview... but I don't want u to feel rushed to translate but if you could that would be awesome.. but take your time we're not in a hurry lol but thank you soo much!

[nano]

lol...I thought that this was a new topic so I started to read. Took me about 5 minutes til I noticed that I'd already read this.

 

but thanks anyway!!!

[nickyrenaud]

great job!!!

[Petya]

Well, I hope 4 years are not long enough to say Thank you for this brilliant translation!!! I don't speak french at all and it's always a big pleasure for me to know what is she talking about I think her interviews in french are more...sincere. I don't say that, because i think she is not so honest in english-don't get me wrong. But in your native language you could express yourself better.

Thank you, Victorine, you are an angel