Céline Dion tries for baby again
Céline Dion didn't make the Quebec premiere of her new movie and she won't be at the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Olympics on Friday because she is in a U.S. hospital trying to conceive a second child, her husband says.
"She's in a hospital right now in New York, trying to have a baby for the fifth time," René Angelil said. "The first four times didn't work."
Angelil was at the French-language premiere of Céline: Through the Eyes of the World in Montreal, but the star herself didn't attend.
Angelil said he was heading to New York on Friday to support her in while she has fertility treatments. He said Dion would not be performing at the opening of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.
The couple have been trying to have a sibling for nine-year-old René-Charles through in-vitro fertilization. Dion said on The Oprah Winfrey Show on Wednesday that she is determined to have a second child.
Back in the public eye
The news came as Dion burst back into the public eye after taking a break last year at the conclusion of the Taking Chances tour, which is chronicled in the movie.
She has announced she'll be returning to Las Vegas for a new show starting in March 2011 and based on classic Hollywood romance movies. She appeared two weeks ago on the Grammy Awards and participated in the recent re-recording of We Are the World in support of Haiti relief efforts.
Céline: Through the Eyes of the World recounts Dion's 2008-2009 world tour across five continents and 25 countries.
The slick two-hour movie, directed by Stephane Laporte and produced by TV personality Julie Snyder, Dion's close friend, gives a behind-the-scenes look at the star and her family as well as ample show footage.
A year condensed into 2 hours
"It's incredible," Angelil said, noting the movie was drawn from 800 hours of film. Dion was used to the crew, who had shot her Las Vegas show for DVD, so that helped her remain natural in front of the cameras, he said.
"What I saw today was our whole year in two hours," Angelil said. "He covered everything, the good times, the bad times.
"Very emotional to see the way she's such a professional, such a trouper, the way she is, a great human being. I think this comes out in the movie and I'm so proud of her."
The movie captures vintage Céline — the high-decibel vocals, the fist pumping in the air, the striding on stage.
There are tears at the end of the tour and when she receives France's Legion of Honour. And Dion is genuinely touched during a tour of a former Nazi concentration camp in Germany.
The movie gives new meaning to the term behind-the-scenes, with footage of a medical exam where doctors run a camera down her throat and up her nose while she tries to sing in the hospital. The flexing of the famous vocal chords is visible on monitors as doctors look on.
In one of the many personal moments, Dion spins son René-Charles around playfully at the family home. She also prays with her husband on their private jet.
The film will have its English-language premiere in Miami on Tuesday and be released in theatres in Canada and internationally the next day. It will have a limited run, then be out on DVD in a couple of months.