Inside Céline Dion and John Farnham's friendship as new documentary reveals Canadian songstress' decades-long admiration for Aussie legend

Warning: This article may contain spoilers for I Am: Céline Dion.

Céline Dion's monumental life and career is explored like never before in her new documentary, which reveals the significant impact one Australian legend has had on the Queen of Power Ballads that many might not know about.

Throughout I Am: Céline Dion's almost two-hour-long runtime, Dion's decades-spanning achievements are highlighted as much as the brutal realities she faces as her Stiff Person Syndrome symptoms worsen.

One such brutal reality is the fact that Dion rarely leaves her house, with the My Heart Will Go On songstress only being filmed venturing beyond her compound three times over 12 months.

Watch the video above.

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It means her documentary – and daily life – largely features only Dion herself, her children, and core members of her team. And John Farnham.

How Céline Dion and John Farnham's friendship came to be

Farnham and Dion notably met for the first time in 2018, when Dion was Down Under for her 22-date Asia, Australia and New Zealand tour.

For the first six of her seven shows in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne, Dion had been performing Farnham's hit You're the Voice as the eleventh song on her 21-song setlist.

Fans on the last night of her Australian leg on August 8, however, received the surprise of a lifetime when Farnham walked onto the stage, with both Farnham and Dion rocking Rod Laver Arena with a duet of the hit.

"I've wanted to sing John Farnham's You're the Voice on my tours for so many years, and it's been so great to finally do it on this tour," Dion later wrote on Instagram.

"I still can't believe that I got to perform it with the one-and-only, John Farnham! I will never forget this, the thrill of a lifetime. John, thank you for your incredible talent, you're amazing. I love you! Thank you, Melbourne!"

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Dion had sung about the power of finding your voice with Farnham after years of admiring him – but what fans didn't know at the time was that Dion herself was losing her own.

In her documentary, Dion opens up about how the symptoms of Stiff Person Syndrome – which she had been experiencing for 17 years prior to her diagnosis – had been worsening.

Stiff Person Syndrome is "a rare, progressive syndrome that affects the nervous system, specifically the brain and spinal cord", according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

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"Symptoms may include extreme muscle stiffness, rigidity and painful spasms in the trunk and limbs, severely impairing mobility," the institute says. "Spasms can generate enough force to fracture bone."

At times, Dion would experience voice spasms or the feeling of her chest tightening and locking up, meaning she couldn't sing.

To mask this on-stage, Dion says she would tap her microphone in a motion intended to convey technical difficulties, or simply turn her microphone to the audience to encourage them to sing.

Eventually, Dion says in the documentary, the "lie got too heavy", and she ultimately came forward with her rare neurological diagnosis in an emotional video in late 2022.

What Céline Dion says about John Farnham in her documentary

Dion and Farnham's duet was a moment that came to be because of Dion's love of Farnham's talent, which she herself opened up about years later in Farnham's May 2023 documentary John Farnham: Finding the Voice.

In Dion's documentary, there's an inception-like scene where fans watch Dion prepare for an interview for Farnham's documentary.

Dion can be seen watching a video of Farnham performing The Beatles' Help in Melbourne in 1987, later telling her co-managers Dave Platel and Denis Savage: "The keyboard, the sleeveless shirt, I mean, at one point, you know, sometimes I wish I could just be rock'n'roll, [a] playing guitar guy."

She also tells her co-managers of the first time she saw Farnham perform, saying: "I heard John Farnham, and I was flipping, because the power broke our radio..."

Dion's interview for Farnham's documentary then plays, where she further opens up about listening to Farnham for the first time 25 years before filming, when he was singing You're the Voice.

"It was so powerful, his voice was incredible, so emotional," Dion says in her interview. "I wanted to include that song so bad."

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She's later shown recounting: "Where can I sing that song? Aha! You want me to be in Australia? You're gonna hear me sing that song. But never, I thought, that I was going to sing it with him."

Farnham himself has been facing his own health battle, having been diagnosed in August 2022 with throat cancer.

Dion came forward with her diagnosis that December.

I Am: Céline Dion will premiere globally on Prime Video on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.

Nine Entertainment Co (the publisher of this website) owns and operates the streaming service Stan.

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