Celine Dion in a wheelchair? Her illness hoax

Mariangela Masiello

April 17, 2023

In the last few days on social networks, especially on TikTok, a video has gone viral would portray Céline Dion at her son’s weddingconfined to a wheelchair due to the worsening of the disease. The news, which aroused no small concern among the singer’s fans, turned out to be, however, a real hoax.

the illness

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Last December, Céline Dion announced to the world that she is suffering from a rare disease: stiff person syndrome. In the video that soon went viral on social media, we see a woman, with features that are very similar to those of the Canadian singer, visibly excited that she is lifted from the wheelchair to hug her son and that, immediately afterwards, she is helped to settle back in the wheelchair. A video full of love and strong emotions, which however does not star Céline Dion. As reported by the site Techarpin fact, the woman portrayed in the video is not the singer originally from Québec, but rather Kathy Poiriera 55-year-old woman from Florida.

another woman

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As explained in the fact checking analysis carried out by the site, Kathy Poirier suffer from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a progressive disease of the nervous system that causes a loss of muscle control. The offending video was registered on April 9, 2022, several months before Céline Dion’s announcement on social media. Not only that, the sequence of images that went viral on TikTok, it’s one shortened version of the video filmed at the wedding of Zak Poirier, Kathy’s son: that day indeed the woman managed to dance with the groom. Zak and his two brothers lifted and escorted their mom to the dance floor for the traditional mother-son dance moment. Thanks to her children who kept her on her feet, Kathy Poirier was able to take a round of dances with Zak, who was cheered with an emotional standing ovations of the wedding guests.

the announcement of the disease

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Through a moving video posted on her Instagram profile, Céline Dion had updated fans on their health conditions: “I’ve had health problems for a long time and it’s not easy for me to deal with them,” he wrote. ” I am deeply saddened to say that I will not be able to resume my tour of Europe in February. Celine”.