‘What I Love Most in Life Is to Be a Mother’



News of Celine Dion’s pregnancy with twins from an in-vitro fertilization flashed around the world Monday, and the first thought here was if it would affect her planned March 15 return to a three-year run of 70 annual concerts at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace.

Celine and husband manager Rene Angelil put the fears to rest immediately.

“We will be there as scheduled,” they said. In a French-language interview with writer Michelle Coude-Lord of Celine’s hometown newspaper The Montreal Journal, Rene added: “The babies will be 5 months old by then. If everything goes as planned, we’ll be there next spring with no problem doing 70 shows a year.”

I talked Monday with The Journal’s news editor, George Kalogerakis, as he discussed Celine’s Las Vegas commitment with Michelle and reporter Dany Bouchard, who tracks Las Vegas entertainment for the publication: “It was very important to both of them to honor the contract. She takes the signing of the contract very seriously and worried a lot about the timing of the birth.



Celine Dion in concert in Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 28, 2009.

“She knew that this would be the last chance -- the last window of opportunity.”

Celine admitted to Michelle that the contract did put a little pressure on them: “The contract never had priority over the life of a child, but we don’t make our commitments lightly. So I saw the time pass from one test to another, and I was stressed for Rene because he negotiates these contracts. The pressure was there. I felt the edge of the precipice, and I thought maybe it will -- my big leap -- if it doesn’t happen because the page will be turned soon. That’s why we are so happy because the road was long and arduous.”

Celine’s new contract, as previously reported here at Vegas DeLuxe in February, calls for 70 shows a year. “She sees it as a good situation to keep the rhythm of the school calendar for their 9-year-old son Rene Charles,” Michelle said.

They told me that Celine’s hometown fans were ecstatic with the news and reacting very positively. “It was the big news on every show here,” George told me. “The news was a total surprise. They kept it very quiet this time because they lost the child the last time they talked about it. The arrival of twins was as big a surprise to Celine as it was to all of us. She said she didn’t believe it when the doctors told her. She wanted to wait the first three months to be absolutely sure.”

source: lasvegasweekly.com