Celine Dion talks God, spirituality and Vegas

[Domi]

 

LAS VEGAS—If you think you know Celine Dion, then think again.

 

A recent exclusive interview with her turned out to be a revelation of her views on spirituality. For someone who grew up deep in the Roman Catholic enclave of Quebec, Dion’s credo is surprisingly different.

 

“It’s important for people to have something they can touch and believe in,” she says passionately. “I say that to believe in yourself is to believe in God. For me, God is life itself, the birds, the air, the sunrise and the sunset, the children. Yes, that is where I find God. Not in a church.”

 

Dion had just finished another show to a sold-out crowd of 4,000 people in the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. It had seemed unusually electric, even for this always-on performer, and later backstage she admitted it had been.

 

“Sometimes there are special moments. This was one. You don’t know when they’re going to appear. I guess that’s what makes them special. Sometimes you just recreate the emotions. Sometimes you get caught by them. And some nights, like tonight, they possess you.”

 

Dion is on a roll these days, with her latest Sony album, ,Loved Me Back to Life, having sold 1.3 million copies worldwide so far and her appearances at Caesars continuing to fill the house.

 

And so she’s added some unexpected pieces to her repertoire, including nakedly emotional renditions of songs like Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen” and Jacques Brel’s “Ne me quitte pas.”

 

“I never thought I was going to sing those songs in Vegas. Everyone told me not to do it. People are coming here to have a good time, to gamble, to eat at great restaurants, to go shopping, to hear me sing their favourite songs. ‘Oh good, she did “Titanic,” now goodnight.’ That’s why they come. Not to watch me tear my heart out and offer it to them.

 

“But I figured at this point in my life, in my career, do I have anything to lose? I truly believe I don’t. If it’s the end of this, then it’s the beginning of something else. As long as you believe there are other things, you never die.”

 

She smiles as she remembers her time in Las Vegas. “With the previous show, don’t get me wrong, I had a great time, I was supposed to be here two weeks, I was here five years. But it was a theatrical vision.

 

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“For this show, I wanted to give myself an opportunity to sit down close, to sing to people, to talk to people, to share things, to touch people. . . . This is me, that is what I am all about. To sit close and open my heart. . . . I don’t want to offer the people who come hear me a bouquet where every song is a rose. I want to take them into a garden with many different flowers.”

 

Dion dives deeply into the adolescent pain of Ian’s “At Seventeen,” singing the line about “ugly duckling girls like me” with great poignancy, made ever more potent by a video display of just how awkward she was at the beginning of her career.

 

But she believes the number is more than a personal confessional. “There is that hopeless moment with all teenagers, men and women, it’s part of growth. It’s an opportunity for growth.

 

“Things happen, they get in the way. Feelings of ugliness, of being unloved. But they should get in your way at a young age so you can outgrow them, so you can learn to get around them, to live your life, to find yourself. To find who you really are inside, even if sometimes, it breaks your heart.”

 

The last five years have been a whirlwind for Dion. After closing her first Vegas show, she toured the world, nearly lost her voice, experienced some painful losses in trying to conceive another child and then joyously gave birth to twins.

 

“You got though so many things in life,” she sighs, recalling those experiences. “You lose people, you give birth to children, you see so many million things. You make choices. You learn to say no. You purify yourself, you look for spirituality, for emotional balance.

 

“I love the way our lives keep changing. There’s one great thing about knowledge in life, about experience, about maturity, about time, about getting older and that’s knowing what you stand for, what you believe in. It would be so very sad if we just grew older to die. There must be something good about this. There must be a good reason why we mature and we move on.”

 

Dion’s views seem so unfettered by dogma that it comes as a surprise when, at the end of one song during her act, she makes the sign of the cross. Does this mean she is still a devout Catholic?

 

“I was raised Catholic,” she says quickly and then comes a long pause. “Look, I don’t want to cause any trouble with any religions, but you have to understand that my mom is my hero and she had a tough time with the priests in the old days.

 

“Back then they were leading the villages, they were the chiefs. They would come knocking on everyone’s doors. ‘How many children? When is the next one?’ as if that was their right to know.

 

“My mother finally had 14 children. But after the eighth one, the priest kept knocking on the door and asking her when the next one was coming, because it had been two whole years!”

 

Dion smiles. “But on that particular day, she found strength and she told the priest, ‘I am going to have children when I decide to have children.’ The priest said, ‘Then I banish you from the house of God.’ She replied, ‘As far as I’m concerned, I’m the God in here with my children. This is the house that I believe in.’

 

“That is the way we were raised. That is the strength and belief we had. I didn’t have to go to church and get on my knees to find something to hold onto.”

 

The superstar diva known for her outsized moments onstage suddenly grows very quiet.

 

“If you can find energy in a rock that your children gave you, that can become the most precious thing in your life. I have boxes of dead leaves, branches, flowers that they brought to me. That’s my God. That’s my religion.

 

“If you don’t believe in something, then you’re a little bit dead.”

 

FIVE FAVE MUSICAL INFLUENCES

 

STEVIE WONDER

 

“I do a hologram duet with him in the show and every night I look forward to that moment. I’m sharing a stage with someone I respect so much.”

 

JACQUES BREL

 

“His music has so much feeling, so much pain that you can only begin to explore it.”

 

JANIS IAN

 

“When I sing it (‘At Seventeen’) now, I like to think I’m saying to people, ‘Look who you are and look where you are, you’ve outgrown those feelings about what you didn’t like about yourself.’”

 

NE-YO

 

“My son, René-Charles, introduced me to his music and it opened a whole new world to me.”

 

MICHAEL JACKSON

 

“I am so happy there is a Cirque show here in Vegas celebrating his life and art. He was the greatest.”

 

http://www.thestar.c...eline_dion.html

[gafsa]

Nice

[ghazal]

Wow.that was nice

[pat200]

sad she totally forgot barbra's inspiration on her...she never mentions her anymore and let's face it, streisand is her ultimate female singer. to name ne-yo is just ridiculous, and to mention janis ian just cause of one song she does of hers is too.

[celinefanonline]

“My mother finally had 14 children. But after the eighth one, the priest kept knocking on the door and asking her when the next one was coming, because it had been two whole years!”

 

Dion smiles. “But on that particular day, she found strength and she told the priest, ‘I am going to have children when I decide to have children.’ The priest said, ‘Then I banish you from the house of God.’ She replied, ‘As far as I’m concerned, I’m the God in here with my children. This is the house that I believe in.’

 

that's something!!!

[Davey84]

Impressive article! Nice to hear her talk about religion seriously. I do have to agree with her! I believe in 'something' too... but not in a man with a beard sitting in heaven, putting his wrath upon us all the time... Thanks for the article! Very interesting!

 

(A shame she promoted the show now... not the album though!)

[donpi86]

Wow.. curious about the priest story... maybe they belonged to Opus Dei once??? because normlly the catholic priest doesn't go door by door asking for children... I believe that only the Opus Dei members have to have "x" number of children so the organization gives money to the family and help finding better jobs etc.... But I'm not pretty sure... maybe I'm saying bulls**t.... sorry if I ofend someone...

[Prima_Donna1]

Good article. Nice to hear where she stands on certain things.

[DionFanAlways]

Wow.. curious about the priest story... maybe they belonged to Opus Dei once??? because normlly the catholic priest doesn't go door by door asking for children... I believe that only the Opus Dei members have to have "x" number of children so the organization gives money to the family and help finding better jobs etc.... But I'm not pretty sure... maybe I'm saying bulls**t.... sorry if I ofend someone...

In the 50's, 60's and 70's The Church was in your business!! It happened to my grandmother and grandfather. They had 6 children, like all good little Catholics should do.... Home visits were made to encourage faithful followers and to make sure you were tithing.

[Prima_Donna1]

^Thats crazy.

[gafsa]

Yes it's crazy.

[mike_z]

Weird... but I thought she once said FREDDY MERCURY was her favorite!

[Your_Su_Phu]

This is quite surprising

[zuv]

Well she can say what ever she wants about the priest now... But without him there would'nt be a 14th child in the family, there wouldnt be any Celine Dion.

 

Am i right or am i wrong?

[québecflower]

Wow.. curious about the priest story... maybe they belonged to Opus Dei once??? because normlly the catholic priest doesn't go door by door asking for children... I believe that only the Opus Dei members have to have "x" number of children so the organization gives money to the family and help finding better jobs etc.... But I'm not pretty sure... maybe I'm saying bulls**t.... sorry if I ofend someone...

it was like that in quebec at that time...Church and government were really close. It was a mather of increasing the french population or the number of catholics, believe it or not. In the beginning of the sixties , it began to change.

[Davey84]

Well she can say what ever she wants about the priest now... But without him there would'nt be a 14th child in the family, there wouldnt be any Celine Dion.

 

Am i right or am i wrong?

 

Well Celine said that a lot of times herself too... After the twins, when Therese found out she was pregnant again, she was devistated, cos she tought she could finally do her own things... She went to a priest and talked to him (because she wanted to get rit of the pregnancy) but he convinced her to keep it, thus we owe Celine to a priest :P At least that's how I remember how Celine told the story...

[QueenCeline87]

Well I'm very grateful for the 14th Dion lol

The priest done the world a favour in a way! We were sent an angel!!

[NicoNV]

This is quite surprising

 

This article has been discussed at length here as well: http://www.celinedionforum.com/topic/52537-revealing-interview-on-faz/page__st__120

 

 

Thanks to the non-practicing Catholics on the board (thanks a million!), it was clarified quite a bit (at least it was for me, as a protestant Christian). Her comments were more directed toward the structure of the Catholic church, and not her belief in God (i.e. she believes in God, but just that God can be found everywhere--including outside the realm of the Catholic church structure). A pretty bold statement given where she comes from. But, in light of the other comments, coupled with the understanding of non-practicing Catholics, her comments make sense--she has always said she believes, she says, each night in her Vegas show that she, "Thanks God for the blessing He has given her," and in her biography she and Rene discussed God as the source of healing (it's how they would end their phone calls during the LTABL Tour, something like in God there is health).

 

When I first read it, I was surprised too (as you can see from my first post in that other thread), but after reading the article again, and in light of the other comments in the thread, I do feel like I understand her point now. She still believes in God, and still has a Christian structure to her beliefs (the Christian comment I am making comes from a story posted in the Phillipines press at some point this year where she references "Christ the Lord," and discused similar things of seeing God everywhere, as well as prior interviews when asked about her faith and that she prays, etc.) But, she is just beyond only seeing her faith through the prisim of the Pope and the priests, etc. It's a strong stance to make so openly--good for her.

[Bell]

Thanks for sharing! Great interview! It really shows what kind of a person Celine is. It's not about the star, it's about the woman Celine Dion. And most of the things she says actually correspond to my own views of life.

[Bell]

I believe in 'something' too... but not in a man with a beard sitting in heaven, putting his wrath upon us all the time...

Same here.

[smw]

Always such a breath of fresh air when Celine moves away from her robotic responses. She never fails to surprise me... (My favorite, though, is when she surprises me with her performances!)

[Wita19]

Great interview! I love when she's asked about different things than family, Vegas and houses for sale...

 

“I say that to believe in yourself is to believe in God. For me, God is life itself, the birds, the air, the sunrise and the sunset, the children. Yes, that is where I find God. Not in a church.”

 

So true! God is undefined. Every person should find God in very own way.

 

Celine, for me there's something divine in You and I want to thank You for that.

You gave me lots of clues how to live, how to be happy, to be in harmony with myself and with others.

 

Merci...

Edited January 26, 2014 at 06:40 PM by Wita19

[sfbaysinger]

Wow the strength in her mother, taking up for her own body and reproductive system and when she wants to have children. What a great article, thank you sooooo much for sharing. I agree with most of the views she voiced, so beautiful and articulate

[mebe]

sad she totally forgot barbra's inspiration on her...she never mentions her anymore and let's face it, streisand is her ultimate female singer. to name ne-yo is just ridiculous, and to mention janis ian just cause of one song she does of hers is too.

 

Well it's good to read something new too. She can't name them all obviously. Ne-Yo is more recent but as she said it comes from her son so maybe that's why she wanted to mention it,

[Aga.135]

It's a strange interview for me. Especially the part about faith. First of all - it's not my business because everyone can believe in anything. But when sb is talking about finding God in leaves, flowers, rocks etc... Ok,that's true, these are things that God has created. But saying "that's my religion, that's my God" is a little bit strange for me. Maybe I don't understand what she was thinking about but certainly it wasn't a typical Christian creed. An agnostic could say that way too.

[Aga.135]

And one more thing - in the Catholic church no one is saying that God is a man with a beard sitting in heaven. It's a childish version of God good for 4-year old toddler. Edited January 26, 2014 at 07:42 PM by Aga.135

[CelinesDIVO5]

It's a strange interview for me. Especially the part about faith. First of all - it's not my business because everyone can believe in anything. But when sb is talking about finding God in leaves, flowers, rocks etc... Ok,that's true, these are things that God has created. But saying "that's my religion, that's my God" is a little bit strange for me. Maybe I don't understand what she was thinking about but certainly it wasn't a typical Christian creed. An agnostic could say that way too.

 

Celine is clearly more spiritual than religious. Religion and spirituality are both subjective to each person in this world. There's no wrong or right way to say how you believe in God. I personally don't believe in the Catholic viewing of who God is. I believe in a higher power, whether it be a man, a woman or an energy remains to be seen. But that's my own belief, and I don't think anyone has the right to tell me that I would be wrong for what I believe.

Edited January 26, 2014 at 07:49 PM by CelinesDIVO5

[Aga.135]

^ Yes, that's why I've written that it wasn't my business. Nevertheless I can have and I do have my personal opinion about that. Edited January 26, 2014 at 08:06 PM by Aga.135

[CelinesDIVO5]

^ Yes, that's why I've written that it wasn't my business. Nevertheless I can have and I do have my personal opinion about that.

 

But to say that the way someone believes is strange is a little offensive.

[Aga.135]

I don't agree. If I had used words like "bad, wrong, inappropriate" that would have been "offensive" and sounded like evaluating from the moral point of view - right or wrong. But "strange for me" is an expression of my own view and I'm entitled to have one. Maybe my English is so bad that I don't understand what it's all about.