Music legend Celine Dion says she is still finding it hard to cope without her husband by her side and that she thinks she will grieve his death of the rest of her life.
The touching revelation comes almost a year after her beloved hubby Rene Angelil died of throat cancer.
However, she says that she still feels like he is with her everyday, whether it be on stage, recording or when she’s with her three children.
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“I think I will probably grieve for the rest of my life,” she told The Sun’s Dan Wootton on Lorraine, adding with a smile, “Rene has prepared me for all my life since I’m 12.
“I have never met another man in my life, never kissed another man in my life.
“I miss him a lot. I miss him a lot — for my partner, for the man I was embracing, kissing, making love with. My worries, my dreams . . . ”
Although losing Rene was a crushing blow to her, she has tried to deal with it in her own way, getting her head around.
“No one chooses to be sick.
“Life imposes for you to be sick and you have the option to be strong or not be strong.
“But to be surrounded by the right people helps a lot because, if you know you will die, make the best of it.
“I proved to Rene that he was there for me and I’m going to be there for him — and I’m still there for him.”
And it would seem that Rene, who managed her career, really is still there for her.
Sometimes when she has a moment of doubt or she feels she needs help making a decision, she positions herself in front of a portrait of Rene and asks him for advice, such as when she was unsure about recording a new song for Disney’s hit Beauty And The Beast remake.
“I went and found one of the paintings that one of the fans gave me of my husband and I said, ‘Should I do this?’
“And the answer I got back — I don’t want that to sound like ghostly or anything like that — but emotionally what I got back from that was, ‘You have nothing to lose’.”
A year on since his death, Celine says she finds it easier to talk about Rene.
However, she looks back with sadness at the years he battled his illness.
“He did suffer for three years. A lot,” she recalls.
“I took a year off and I said, ‘My living well is to be with you, it’s not my career. You are my career, you are my life’.
“That’s what a wife does, that’s what a mother does, that’s what a performer does. I took care of him the best way I could.”
Before he died the pair them talked about what he wanted for his funeral that was held at Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica January 2016.
“I reassured him it was going to be done his way,” she said.” he chose the songs at his funeral, the way he wanted it, everything to a tee. And I respected that.”
When Rene finally died, she said she stood by his side and said, ‘You know what, it’s OK, you know you didn’t deserve to suffer that much. He was cold.
“I said, ‘It’s enough, it’s enough of suffering. You gave so much, you don’t deserve that’.
“I said, ‘I’m fine, the kids are fine, OK, everything is going to be OK. You taught me, you taught me well. I’m going to use it’.
“And that’s what I do every day — so Rene will never die.”
Asked if would consider finding love again, Celine says she is not ready just yet.
“Now it is definitely too soon for me. I am definitely in love with Rene, married to him.
“He’s the love of my life. It’s very difficult for me to see myself with another person. The love that I have for him, I live it every day. And as a woman, we do have emotions and feelings that come and go. And it’s always with him.
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“When I sing, it’s with him. When I hug my kids, it’s for him and it’s with him. I took time to grieve and I’m still grieving.”
Meanwhile, she says she has recorded with Sia and has begged Adele to join her on her UK tour later this summer.