Celine Dion has been seen for the first time since the January 14 death of her 73-year-old husband René Angélil.
The 47-year-old singer looked pale as she got hugs from friends before boarding a private jet in Las Vegas with her three children in tow.
This sighting comes just two days before Angélil’s funeral, which will be held at the Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal. The church is also where the couple had a lavish wedding in 1994.
Dion isn’t only grieving over the passing of her husband. Her bother also died this month. On January 16, just two days after René died from throat cancer, her brother Daniel Dion lost his battle at aged 59 with brain, tongue and throat cancer.
On Wednesday, the Grammy winner had her red locks pulled back into a severe bun and her face looked strained.
The Heart Will Go On hitmaker was dressed in head to toe black, including a turtleneck, leggings and to-the-knees high-heeled boots. The beauty also had on her wedding rings.
She was seen with several handlers as well as her three children: René-Charles, aged 14, and twins Nelson and Eddy, aged five.
Rene had endured a long fight against cancer before passing away just two days before his 74th birthday.
He had been married to Celine for 21 years and as well as serving as her manager since she was a teenager.
In accordance with Rene’s wishes two of Celine’s songs will play during the service. The Canadian beauty will not sing at the memorial.
The Dion family will then attend the funeral of Daniel on Tuesday.
Celine will also host a Celebration Of Life gathering for her husband in Las Vegas on February 3.
Angélil planned out his funeral so that the burden wouldn’t lie with the singer once he had passed. René reportedly wanted everything prepared, even though he didn’t know when it would happen.
Céline’s stylist and longtime friend Annie Horth told People: ‘René was generous enough to prepare all of this since the last few months with Céline,’
Because of this, Céline is ‘going through [this] peacefully and with control,’ added Horth.
According to sources, René wanted to have his funeral at Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, where the couple married more than two decades ago.
A message posted to Facebook on Friday read: ‘According to his final wishes, his Funeral will be held at Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, where 21 years ago, he chose to marry the one who will remain as the great love of his life, the artist for which he had the most respect, the woman who gave him light and happiness until his very last breath.’
An insider told People: ‘The whole funeral, that was all René’s wishes, he obviously wanted to have his funeral where he married the love of his life.’
The couple are superstars in their native Canada and the funeral will be televised on three networks and flags will fly at half-staff, according to TMZ.
On Saturday DailyMail.com reported exclusively the performer used her Las Vegas show in recent weeks as a tribute to the man she loved, knowing that his long battle against cancer was close to being lost.
And he used it to make his final public appearance, clearly frail, but smiling and waving on a video he knew would be played to her fans.
The image of René was projected onto a screen the Las Vegas venue where Dion has been a performer in residence.
Her performances have been canceled until the end of February, but she was a trooper until the night before he died.
Celine is scheduled to perform at Caesars Palace on February 23 in Las Vegas.
Leave a Reply