Céline Dion’s latest family outing to the NHL Draft is cool as ice.
“I was very pleased to announce the selection of the Montreal Canadiens for the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft,” Dion, 56, wrote in French via Instagram on Saturday, June 29. “Congratulations to Ivan Demidov!”
The legendary vocalist appeared Friday, June 28, on the draft stage to announce that the Montreal Canadiens planned to bring Demidov, 18, to the team.
“With the fifth overall selection in the 2024 NHL Draft, the Montreal Canadiens are proud to select Ivan Demidov,” Dion, who was accompanied by eldest son René-Charles on stage, said during the broadcast.
Demidov, for his part, was in awe that Dion was the person to reveal his hockey team.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s like a book. Like a movie. It’s … me,” Demidov said in a press conference later on Friday. “I watched the Titanic!”
Dion, whose Oscar-winning song “My Heart Will Go On” appeared on the Titanic soundtrack, attended the Las Vegas event with sons René-Charles, 23, and twins Nelson and Eddy, both 13.
“Thank you Canadiens for having me, and NHL for taking such good care of my family,” Dion added via Instagram. “We had a lot of fun!”
Dion shared her three children with her late husband, René Angélil, who died in January 2016 at the age of 73 following a throat cancer battle.
Since Angélil’s death, Dion has leaned on her kids especially when she was diagnosed with Stiff person syndrome.
“Her kids have been her rock … the twins are very mature for their age and René-Charles checks in and dotes on his mom all the time,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in December 2022, shortly after she was diagnosed. “It came as a shock, but she’s lost none of her fighting spirit and is comforted that at least she knows exactly what she’s dealing with now and there’s comfort that she can alleviate some of the symptoms by getting treatments that are specific for this condition.”
Dion went public with her diagnosis because she felt a heavy “burden” lying about her illness.
“I could not do this anymore,” she said during a June appearance on the Today show. “Lying, for me, the burden was too much. Lying to the people who got me where I am today. I could not do it anymore.”
Dion further discusses her SPS battle in the I Am: Céline Dion documentary, which is currently available to stream on Prime Video.
