After almost half a decade performing in the desert Celine Dion is back with a brand new album.
Celine Dion is holed up at the plush Ritz Carlton hotel near her home in Vegas Lakes, Las Vegas. Celebrating the final few weeks of her $110 million-plus contract at the famed Caesar’s Palace, which ends December 15, and with the release of a new album Taking Chances, and an upcoming world tour, this 39-year-old chanteuse, shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.
Wearing a beige, studded Fendi mini-dress, black stockings and black Christian Louboutin heels, the Quebec-born singer is even more glamorous in person than you might imagine. Surprisingly down-to-earth and candid in spite of her celebrity status, Celine is more than happy to talk about the two men in her life, hubby and manager René Angélil, 65, and her precious six-year-old son René-Charles, as well as her hopes to extend her family and why the best is yet to come.
How do you feel about leaving Las Vegas? What do you think you’ll miss most about it?
Well, it’s been my home for the last five years. We consider ourselves Las Vegans now. [Laughs]. We’re going to keep our house here because my son was one-and-a-half when we moved here and he made memories here. It’s his home. We’ve celebrated six birthdays here, so we’re going to keep this house although we’re building our new house in Florida.
René said you’d like to have more kids after the tour ends?
Well I would love to. It’s a miracle child that we have. I thought at one point I was not going to be able to have a child. I’m not going to be greedy. I’m going to push my luck. I hope we’ll be blessed again. If not, we will be cherishing every moment we have with our son.
Is there anything you’d do differently the second time around?
No. What I never do is regret. I don’t regret anything. And I know for sure, this is something that I’m so sure of myself. In the business, I’m not sure of anything but I have to say as a mother, I might have done things wrong, some things right, hopefully more right than wrong.
You’ll be turning 40 next March. In this youth obsessed culture, is that something that worries you?
Oh, gosh no, I can’t wait! My twenties were spent proving to myself that I could do this career. My thirties were still turning around a little. Then I became a mom and I had meaning in my life. It feels to me that as time passed, I have become more grounded. I started in the clouds and I’m coming down the ladder. My feet are definitely more grounded than before. I’m holding onto my life. I’m so centered in feeling great about me, that I can give great things to my son and my husband and my family. I see clearer and clearer now. Thank God there’s something positive about getting older. Something other than wrinkles and gravity and ageing.
You have an Australian tour coming up. What can audiences expect?
A brand new show. It’s very modern, very fresh, dynamic [snaps fingers]. Very up-tempo. Uplifting. Edgy. Let’s put it this way, same Celine — I will be singing my previous repertoire that’s for sure, but I also have my new album called Taking Chances, and those songs are very powerful. Definitely a lot more edgy. I will be performing both old and new songs. I can’t wait. I’m very thrilled. And I love your country.
What’s your best memory of Australia?
Every time I went to Australia it felt like home. And I think it’s a compliment because there’s no place like home. And if you are away from home and you feel at home, it’s amazing. The people are very extraordinary. You’re lucky because you have beaches there. I remember playing golf a couple of times. Perth was an amazing journey. I think I played golf in Melbourne. I went to the beach in Sydney. We never stayed long enough to do so much. My mom and my son and my husband will be there next year. And I’m sure we’re going to have time to visit and appreciate more of your country.
What do you never leave home without?
My son. Sometimes my husband has to stay for business stuff, but most of the time, my husband and my son.
Lets talk about the album title Taking Chances. Do you consider yourself a big risk-taker?
Risk-taker? No. Do I take chances? Yes, for sure, that’s all I do. I have to. The best proof that I can give you is how my career started. My husband mortgaged his house to make my first album. Did he take a chance? Yes. He took a risk. It turned out OK for us, thank God. But that’s what I do in my life. I take chances in what I believe.
How do you stay grounded?
You try no to be part of the show business world. I do not want to know the record sales and the numbers and the popularity and how much it’s going to sell. When the curtain falls down, it’s over. I go home and I have an extraordinary life with very extraordinary people and I want to preserve that. I certainly don’t have any awards or gold records in my house. Q Why not? A I don’t want to be connected with show business. And please don’t get me wrong, I love what I do and it’s a fun thing. I love the spotlight. I love what I’m doing. But when I’m home, that is when I can be the true me. I’m most likely in bare feet, pyjamas … whatever.
Is it hard for you to be one of the world’s beauty icons, to look good and keep in shape ?
I don’t feel that pressure, no. First of all, my shape. I’m lucky I don’t have to do anything for it! I know it’s not fair, but it’s the truth. I’m always trying, like most women, to look as good as we can for ourselves. I have a husband I want to please him. I want to feel good. I want to know that I’m sexy and beautiful. But when I’m in pyjamas at home and I’m being a great mother, that’s beauty. It’s not about makeup and hair and high heels and all that. That’s image. But beauty, as you know, comes from within.
What’s the secret to your successful marriage?
Communication. I wish there were recipes. Everybody would follow the book or the recipe. But the rules that are good for you are not necessarily good for me. And that’s the same thing as with raising children. What the neighbours do with their children is for them and I don’t judge that. I respect, and I’m expecting from them to accept my own decisions. But in a couple it’s about communication and respect. René and I are different. We share different opinions. And that can be very hard when your husband is your manager!
How do you separate the husband and the manager?
I think it’s harder for him to separate it than for me to separate my artist life and the wife. When I’m home it’s very difficult for me to sign an autograph or watch myself on television. My husband, however, always remains my manager. That’s the thing I have the most difficulty with. That’s what he doesn’t understand. When I see myself on TV I say to him, “Record it and you can watch it tonight after we have had some family time”. I don’t like to have Celine Dion on TV taking over my family time! That is the worst thing for me. I’m my worst enemy.
René said you were an AC/DC fan?
Yeah, whenever we set the stage, I have them turn on “Thunderstruck” to get the adrenaline pumping for the show. I have no idea how it came about! [Laughs]
And I hear René-Charles is a big High School Musical fan?
[Laughs] Yes! And Hanna Montana, whoo! He’s got the video iPod of them, its crazy. But it’s so nice to see him express himself through music, too. Anything he decides to do in life, I will be supportive, but music doesn’t have to be it. One night a couple of weeks ago, he took his keyboard that has recorded songs in and he goes, ‘Mum, do you want to sing?’ I go to myself, ‘This is the last thing I want to do after every night for five years straight’, but this is my son. I said, ‘Of course.’ I said ‘What do you want me to sing?’ And he starts the music from Titanic. And I’m trying to follow the keyboard, a very techno version. But accompanied by my son, it was very special.
Celine’s new album Taking Chances is out now on SonyBMG
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