Viral Facebook post falsely portrays Celine Dion at son’s wedding

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Raphael Obasiohia

Claim: A Facebook page shared a video showing a woman being assisted to dance, claiming it depicts famous Canadian singer Celine Dion being helped by her children at her son’s wedding.

Verdict: The viral video does not show Celine Dion at her son’s wedding. It features Kathy Poirier, who had ALS. None of Celine’s three sons are married, and her recent performances, including at the 2024 Olympics, disprove claims of health deterioration.

Full Text

Over time, there have been growing concerns about the health condition of the famous Canadian singer Celine Dion, particularly since December 8, 2022, when she shared on her official Instagram page that she had been diagnosed with Stiff-Person Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that causes muscle spasms. She later cancelled her Courage world tour.

Amidst ongoing speculations about her health, Celine Dion surprised fans with an unannounced appearance at the 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards on February 5, 2024. The 56-year-old singer earned a standing ovation as she walked on stage to present Taylor Swift with the Album of the Year award for her album “Midnights.” She was accompanied on stage by her son, René-Charles Dion.  

Also, on June 28, 2024, the singer and her son René-Charles walked to the stage to announce the Montreal Canadiens’ First-Round Pick at the 2024 NHL Draft. 

Meanwhile, on July 18, 2024, a Facebook page called Ebla Radio posted a video clip of a mother being assisted to dance at a wedding, identifying her as Celine Dion.

The post was captioned: “CELINE DION: We can never ever get her kind again. God created just one of her kind…” 

The post has generated over 14 million views, 430,000 likes, 36,000 comments, and 62,000 shares.

Verification 

DUBAWA divided the video into multiple keyframes and conducted a Google reverse image search on some of them, which led to several reports from 2022. The video had gone viral in 2022 and 2023 with similar claims. Archives of these claims can be found here and here.

A keyword search revealed a report published by The Indian Express on May 24, 2022, with screenshots from the viral video. The article clarified that the woman in the video is Kathy Poirier, a Florida woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a rare neurological disease affecting motor neurons. She attended her son’s wedding at Ever After Farms Blueberry Wedding Barns in Florida, USA.

DUBAWA also found a similar video, from a different angle, uploaded on Instagram by the wedding planners Roots and Stems on April 11, 2022. The video’s text mentioned that Zak danced with his mom at his wedding. On the big day, April 9, 2022, Zak’s younger brothers Nick and Jake helped their mom get to her feet and offered her support to dance with her eldest at his wedding to his longtime love, Anja D’adesky.

Further searches found another report by Fox News, which included quotes from Poirier’s interview about her experience with ALS and her son’s wedding. 

DUBAWA also found a video interview of Poirier uploaded on YouTube by Good Morning America on July 27, 2022. In the interview, Poirier explained that she felt the symptoms in 2018 and was later diagnosed with ALS. Sadly, we found posts here, here, and here that Poirier passed away on April 30, 2024, after an almost six-year battle with ALS.

Meanwhile, DUBAWA searched Celine Dion’s social media accounts, including Instagram and Twitter, and discovered that she had not shared any such video about her son’s wedding. The singer has three sons – René-Charles (23) and 13-year-old twins Nelson and Eddy – none of whom are married. Aside from her Instagram post on December 8, 2022, no recent reports indicate that Celine’s health has further deteriorated, contrary to the viral video’s claims. 

However, on July 27, 2024, Celine on her X (Celine Dion @celinedion) posted her performance in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France. A part of her post read: 

“I’m honoured to have performed tonight for the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony and so full of joy to be back in one of my favourite cities!”

A video of Celine’s 2024 Olympics performance can be found here.  

Conclusion

The viral Facebook post claiming that a video shows Celine Dion at her son’s wedding is MISLEADING. The woman in the video is Kathy Poirier, who attended her son’s wedding. There is no evidence to support the claim that the video features Celine Dion, and recent updates confirm that the singer does not use a wheelchair.

The researcher produced this fact-check as part of the DUBAWA 2024 Kwame KariKari Fellowship, which is in partnership with Bridge Radio 98.7FM, Asaba, to facilitate the ethos of “truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.