An emotional footage claiming to be the heartbreaking status of the world-famous singer Celine Dion is viral on social media. Many users reacted in astonishment and sympathetic comments thinking that the lady seen in the clip was indeed Celine, as she was diagnosed with stiff person syndrome late last year.
However, Factcrescendo Team found even though the viral posts highlight the importance of health, the posts were miscaptioned and had no connection with the Canadian singer. Let's look at the claim first.
Social Media Posts
A heartwarming viral clip tries to convince the public that it depicts the famous Canadian singer Celine Dion dancing at her son`s wedding, with most of her muscle movements limited due to her neurological disease.
The caption of the Facebook video post read, “It's so heartbreaking to watch! Canadian singer Celine Dion attending her son's wedding, she was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition known as stiff-person syndrome. A reminder that health is the most important aspect of life.”
The video went viral on Facebook.
The clip is viral among WhatsApp users in Sri Lanka too.
Fact Check
We first did a closer analysis of the lady seen in the viral footage. While she resembles Celine Dion, there are slight differences in her appearance from that of the famous Canadian Singer.
Hence, we used reverse image search on video frames and keyword searches to discover that the lady in the video was Kathy Poirier, a 55-year-old lady from Florida. She was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a progressive nervous system disease that impacts motor neurons, limiting voluntary muscle movements.
Speaking with the Good Morning America program, she revealed her feelings and nervousness before the dance at her son’s wedding, as seen below.
The bridegroom, Zak Poirier (son of Kathy), ensured that Kathy’s long-time wish to dance at her son’s wedding was fulfilled. However, his two brothers were holding their mom from two sides during the heartwarming dance.
This incident happened over a year ago, in April 2022. We also found a video of the same emotional dance, taken from a different angle, uploaded by the wedding planners ‘Roots and Stems’ on their Instagram page on 11th April 2022, as seen here.
Daily Mail published an article with the version of Zak Poirier referring to one of his Instagram posts, which is currently unavailable publicly.
Zak said, “My Mom was diagnosed with ALS shortly before I graduated law school. Since then, I’ve watched her bravely fight her diagnosis and challenge the odds against her,' 'Despite being unable to stand on her own, my Mom and I shared a dance at my wedding. She inspires me every day to be humble, kind, and selfless. Love you, Mom.” The Daily Mail report can be read here. Archived.
Even though it’s clear that the lady in the wheelchair is not Celine Dion, the famous Canadian singer has indeed been diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS)
The video of her revealing the diagnosis can be watched below.
Furthermore, we found that Celine Dion has three sons, René-Charles Angelil (22), who is following in the footsteps of Celine as a singer, and 12-year-old twins Nelson and Eddy. However, none of them are married yet. More on them here.
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Conclusion
Our investigation found that the viral video does not depict a scene of the famous Canadian singer Celine Dion dancing at her son’s wedding. Instead, the heartwarming video, which went viral over a year ago, is related to a woman named Kathy Poirier from Florida, who suffers from a neurological disorder, ALS.
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Title:This is NOT a Footage of Celine Dion dancing at her son`s wedding!
Fact Check By: Kalana Krishantha
Result: False