Celine Dion’s love story with René Angélil has long been framed as one of devotion, loyalty, and destiny.
However, years after his death, a new memoir, “It’s All Coming Back To Me,” is reopening deeply uncomfortable questions about how their relationship truly began and how much control Angélil wielded over both her personal life and career.
Written by a man who spent more than two decades by their side, the revelations cast fresh light on a marriage that shaped Dion’s entire adult life.
Celine Dion And René Angelil’s Relationship Revisited Through A Trusted Insider
The late Angélil set strict conditions before his longtime collaborator Vito Luprano could publish a memoir about their years together.
The singer asked that the manuscript be shared with Celine Dion before release and that it not be published until after his death.
Angélil died in January 2016 from throat cancer, five years after that conversation, and Luprano insists he honored both requests.
Luprano, who signed Dion’s first record company contract in 1986, had an unusually close vantage point.
“I was 30 years old when I met Celine,” he wrote per the Daily Mail. “She was 17. We signed her when she turned 18.”
For 23 years, he said, he was almost constantly present, writing, “Almost every day for 23 years, I was in the same rooms with Celine and René.”
Although Luprano was Dion’s executive producer for 21 albums, his relationship with Angélil was often strained, marked by clashes over control and ambition, and ended abruptly in 2010.
“I needed closure, but René never gave it to me,” Luprano stated, explaining why the memoir became a personal reckoning.
Dion And Angelil’s Romance Began Earlier Than Publicly Known
Much has already been said about the 26-year age gap between Celine Dion and René Angélil.
They met when she was 12 and he was 38, with the music producer mortgaging his house to fund her first album.
Their romance was publicly acknowledged when she was 19 and he was 45, but Luprano claims the emotional and physical boundaries blurred much earlier.
“There were signs as far back as 1987, when Celine was 17 years old,” he wrote.
He described “shared glances, lingering looks, the way their chemistry shifts the room,” adding that these moments were “too intimate to be anything but love.”
In the studio, he recalled that the “My Heart Will Go On” hitmaker would gaze at Angélil adoringly in a way that contradicted a platonic artist-manager relationship.
Luprano also claims that Angélil took deliberate steps to keep their closeness hidden. When traveling, he allegedly booked Dion hotel suites with connecting rooms.
“One they could slip in and out of at night without anyone knowing,” he explained. Even when Angélil insisted the relationship was platonic, Luprano says his unease never faded.
When the romance eventually surfaced publicly, Luprano likened it to discovering “my adult brother was sleeping with the girl next door, sister.”
Celine Dion’s Love Questioned As Angelil’s Motives Come Under Scrutiny
In the memoir, Luprano made it clear that he never doubted the depth of Dion’s feelings. He described her as head over heels in love.
Still, he admitted to wondering about the purity of Angélil’s motivations, particularly after a conversation early in Dion’s career that left a lasting impression.
During a tense drive, Angélil recounted his fallout with former client Ginette Reno, a French Canadian singer he managed in the 1970s.
According to Luprano, the 73-year-old was still furious decades later. “‘She was great, and we were going places, but within a few months, I lost it all,’” Angélil said.
Reno had left him professionally after falling in love, something he viewed as a betrayal. Luprano wrote that Dion’s husband then made a chilling remark, “‘But now I have Celine.’”
He interpreted it as a declaration of control. According to Luprano, Angélil saw Dion as a second chance, writing, “Celine was his second chance, and he wasn’t going to blow it.”
That mindset, he suggests, shaped how tightly the late singer managed both her career and her emotional world.
Dion’s World Remained Controlled Even After Marriage
Even after Celine Dion and René Angélil married in 1994 and welcomed three children, Luprano claims the dynamic never fully shifted.
He noted how rare it was for the songstress to be alone with anyone without her husband present.
“In all these years, believe it or not, Celine had never once asked to share a meal or a coffee with me,” he wrote. “We all knew that unless René was present, Celine was off-limits.”
One of the most troubling anecdotes involves the recording of “All By Myself.”
On the morning of the session, Angélil unexpectedly said he would not attend and asked Luprano to take Dion instead. Luprano found it unusual, noting that Angélil “never let personal matters interfere with business.”
During the drive, Dion revealed she and her husband had argued. The author described her emotional state in the studio, noting, “She looked vulnerable, she looked heavy with sadness,” and her performance reflected that weight.
It later occurred to him that Angélil may have orchestrated the argument to heighten her emotional delivery.
When confronted, Angélil allegedly did not deny it, believing that inflicting emotional pain was justified if it produced a powerful performance.
Celine Dion’s Devotion Endured Beyond René Angélil’s Death
Despite the unsettling dynamics described in the memoir, Dion remained devoted to Angélil until his final days. She stepped away from her career to care for him during his illness.
After Angélil’s death, the Grammy Award winner faced her own health struggles, later revealing her diagnosis of Stiff Person Syndrome in 2022.
She disappeared from public view for nearly two years before reemerging in 2024, first at a hockey game in Las Vegas and later with a highly anticipated performance at the opening of the Paris Olympics.
In January this year, Dion shared a tribute on what would have been her late husband’s 84th birthday, writing, “On your birthday, we celebrate you and our love for you grows every day. You are forever our greatest protector, and your memory continues to guide us.”
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