Posted October 6, 200816 yr SOURCE Céline Dion takes control Finally, at 40, the woman who is arguably the most famous Canadian in the world knows what she wants, and how to get it By: Georges-Hébert Germain Photography by Martien Mulder Some 10 years ago, Céline Dion had her dream house built on Florida’s Jupiter Island. It was magnificent—except for the flower beds and borders, which didn’t please her. But she never got up the nerve to tell her gardener that they weren’t to her liking. She just put up with them. Then she sold the property and moved to Las Vegas. Last winter, back in Florida again, Dion started building another dream house. “I knew exactly what I wanted,” she says. “I would close my eyes and picture it.” The architect, however, was unable to see what she saw. He wanted to impose his own vision, build his own dream house. “He didn’t listen to me. He said that what I wanted wasn’t done.” But this time, she had no intention of giving in to someone else’s whims and desires. She fired the architect and started over again, this time with a woman. “We talked. She listened to me, and I listened to her. Together, we’re building something that supposedly isn’t done. And it’ll be beautiful. Just the way I want it.” Finding her voice In the intervening decade, Dion has learned to know — and get — what she wants. I lived as part of her entourage for several months while she was doing the Falling into You tour and recording the album D’eux. It was a time when she was starting to achieve immense fame and fortune. Back then, she talked to me about the paradoxical timidity that prevented her from imposing, or even expressing, her wishes, desires and tastes, although she could perform in front of huge crowds in the largest stadiums in Europe, North America and Asia. This year, accompanying her on tour in Australia, Europe and Quebec, I found a remarkably self-assured and independent woman who was aware of and pleased with the changes in herself. Having just turned 40, she’s finally saying loud and clear what she thinks. She imposes her own vision and opinion in everything and everywhere. Those involved in the formidable machine that supports her know that if they slip up or make a mistake, they’ll hear about it. Not necessarily from René Angélil, as in the past, but more and more often from Dion herself. The big boss still handles the business side of things — the negotiations and contracts — but it’s the singer who now takes care of what she calls “the things of life”: her son’s schooling, staging her shows, building and maintaining their houses, the day-to-day organization of their lives. Now nothing in her life as a woman, a mother and a superstar happens without her being consulted. And nothing gets built if she hasn’t approved the plans. On tour, she always brings along piles and piles of fashion, architecture and decorating magazines, strewn all over the floors, tables and chairs in every hotel suite she stays in. She spends hours leafing through them, tearing out pages and filing the illustrations that appeal to her (for tiles, coats, door handles, fountains, mouldings, bathroom taps, blouses, footstools, light fixtures, shoes, etc.) in big cardboard boxes she gives to her stylist, architects, interior designers and gardeners so they’ll know what she likes and wants. And what she intends to have, no matter what. She’s always loved fashion. And she has an equally intense and consuming love for building and design, interests that her husband shares not in the least. In these areas she, and only she, decides. Dion currently has no less than five big construction projects, over which she exercises almost absolute control: in Florida, building a house on the Atlantic coast and a pavilion on the canal; in Quebec, restoring a summer home in the Laurentian Mountains, refurbishing the clubhouse of Le Mirage Golf Club, and building a warehouse on Île Gagnon for storing her clothes, trophies and memorabilia. The total budget for these projects is in the tens of millions of dollars. And if something doesn’t work, whether in the Florida house or the Laurentian summer home, she’ll have it redone. It wouldn’t be the first time. At Lake Las Vegas Resort, she redid the entire interior design (walls, carpets, furniture) of the house she was planning to live in while putting on her A New Day… show at the Colosseum. On Île Gagnon, she had them take out walls, raise ceilings and move windows. Becoming a perfectionist “Over time, I’ve become very demanding,” Dion admits. “I want everything to be perfect. And I’m not often impressed by what people suggest or offer me. When my husband gives me a present, I’m touched at the thought, but I always find something wrong with it. I almost never agree with what he picks out. Actually, he doesn’t choose the gifts himself. Like many men, he relies on the salesperson. Not like me. When I buy clothes for myself, I know as much as, if not more than, the saleslady. And I don’t make mistakes.” Nor does she make mistakes with her very elaborate stage makeup. It’s a painting she composes totally on her own now, sitting up straight (she never leans against the back of chairs or even armchairs) at the table in her dressing room, with dozens of little containers of powder, creams, oils, brushes and false eyelashes spread out in front of her. On a shelf over the lighted mirror are four framed photographs. On the left is one of Dion with her son and husband; in the centre, side by side, her mother and father; on the right, her songwriter Eddy Marnay, who died in 2003. On her left is her agenda, put there by her staff. It includes a few notes on the city she’s in, the people she’s supposed to see before the show (city officials, sports stars, movie stars, showbiz movers and shakers, sick children) and sometimes excerpts from the reviews. Ten years ago, she never read what people wrote about her. Now she demands to see the harshest reviews. Because, you never know; there’s always something you can improve. One evening in Dublin, as she was putting on her makeup, she asked to see a scathing attack she’d been told about. She read the Internet article aloud. It was a veritable hate letter, the kind that says, “I hate Céline Dion with all my heart. I hate her voice, her face, the way she moves, what she says, her songs, her clothes, etc.,” with lots of details and a very unflattering photo. Dion was totally unfazed. “I almost pity the person who went to the trouble to write that,” she said as she put the finishing touches on her makeup. “When you hate that much, it’s yourself you hurt. I’d say that’s one unhappy girl.” I scrolled through the article onscreen. It was unsigned. I asked Dion what made her think it was written by a woman. She laughed and said that women are just as nasty as men, but that they’re nasty in their own way. “And I’d say that that is feminine nastiness.” Ten minutes later, she was welcomed by a screaming crowd of 60,000 fans, who couldn’t have imagined that anyone could hate their beloved idol. Dion is a strong woman who is able to deal with adversity. Jean-Jacques Goldman understood her. Long before she had really developed her independence, he wrote for her “I Don’t Know” (her mother’s favourite song), in which she sings, “I’m not afraid, a wounded dove.” She recognizes that it would be inappropriate for her to act like a victim. Brimming with talent and surrounded by love from her early childhood, she’s knows she’s been blessed. “I’m a happy, independent woman, with a child and a husband I adore.” Love at first sight Unlike most women her age, who’ve had more than one big love in their lives, Dion, while still very young, chose to love just one man. “No,” she corrects, “I wouldn’t say ‘chose.’ You don’t choose to love. Or be loved. Love is a gift from heaven. I was lucky to meet the man of my life early on. I always knew it was him. With René, it was love at first sight, and forever.” After a brief pause, she adds, “I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what most girls want, just one man to love their whole life long. Men feel compelled to run around, as if they’re trying to find the ideal woman in as many women as possible. But we women want to find all men in the same person. René’s the one who makes me laugh and dream. He’s the one who pleases me, who makes me love life, makes me love myself. He’s also the one who sometimes worries, exasperates and upsets me. He’s my man, for better or worse.” When Dion started singing some 25 years ago, she would unquestioningly repeat word for word whatever he told her to say. Now, when she’s onstage or giving an interview, nobody tells her what to say anymore. “I’m becoming more and more like my mother,” she admits. “And that’s fine with me.” Her mother has been with her since the beginning of the Taking Chances tour, which kicked off in Johannesburg in mid-February. They’ve travelled together through Asia, the Pacific, Europe and North America. “My mother’s a genius.” At 81, Madame Dion is a force to be reckoned with. She’s as comfortable in grand palaces as in the lumber camps where she grew up. She’s able to chat with the Pope as naturally as with her sisters and children. Her famous daughter sees her as the perfect role model and, most importantly, as someone who’s always been in charge of her own life. “My mother had 14 children. So she went through kindergarten 14 times, and elementary school 14 times. I’ve always found the women of her generation more interesting than the men, perhaps because through their children they were in contact with the real things in life. It’s true they were stuck at home, but they’re the ones who were responsible for the family’s well-being and happiness. They’re the ones who looked after the children’s material and emotional needs. And that’s worth quite a few university degrees!” She laughingly adds that, after raising their children, women then inherit the one they married. “As they get old, men become children again (or never grow up). They need someone to take care of them. We women have become mothers. So it works out okay in the end.” Proudly female I asked if she had ever wished she were a man. Aghast, she assured me that the idea had never crossed her mind. “I’m more than proud of being a woman. I like everything about it. A woman is beautiful, and I enjoy being one. Being looked at and desired is an enormous pleasure and gives you great power. As far as I’m concerned, it’s women who run the world. And I’m convinced that the fanatics who stifle women’s beauty and try to keep them hidden won’t win.” In interviews, Dion is unpredictable and hard to pin down. You ask her a thoughtful question about how she feels about growing older and the ravages of time, and she’ll talk to you about koala bears and kangaroos, or cars (she loves to drive, although she no longer has much opportunity to) or reading (she’s fond of Marc Levy’s romantic novels). Or, conversely, while everyone around her is having fun, she’ll unexpectedly bring up very serious subjects. “If we were eternal,” she mused one day as we were flying over the Australian outback, “there wouldn’t be any artists or scholars, and probably no lovers. There wouldn’t be any passion. So it’s better to grow old knowing we’ll die one day and hoping we’ll be less foolish then. Anyway, since we can’t help growing old, we should learn to enjoy it.” Several of her eight older sisters have already gone through menopause and she says they’re all as serene and fulfilled as before. “When I see how they deal with it, growing old doesn’t really worry me.” She also believes that men don’t age as well. “They’re less mature. Women are closer to nature and their bodies, because of menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, menopause. Plus, they take care of their skin; they wax their legs, pumice their feet, put on makeup. They notice that their bodies are gradually changing; they have time to get used to aging.” In her profession, of course, Dion sees herself aging close up, in photos of her in magazines and newspapers, on television and on the giant screens that are part of her shows. Millions of people are watching her age. And they never fail to point out the least little wrinkle. But that’s not all. “Getting older isn’t just noticing crow’s feet at the corner of your eyes; it’s seeing everyone around you getting younger.” When she started out in the business, everyone around Dion was much older than she. She was only 13, while her manager was almost 40 and her songwriter was over 60. But as time went by, more and more young people joined her entourage. Now all the backup dancers are younger than the singer. “Eventually, I’ll be the oldest. That’s normal.” She often speaks of “the order of things” or “the normal way of things.” For instance, it’s in the order of things that her mother and her husband will die before she does. And that sooner or later she’ll experience great grief. It’s also in the order of things that her son, René-Charles, who turns eight in January, will one day leave the nest. In the meantime, she’s raising him much like she was raised — with lots of freedom, surrounded by adults, adored and showered with everything he wants. Mothering with love She hates the pediatricians who advise that children should be allowed to cry, that they shouldn’t be permitted in the couple’s private space. “I believe in the power of love. Period,” she exclaims. “I never left my son to cry. And if he wants to come sleep in my bed, he’s welcome.” Like her, René-Charles is a night owl. Like his father, he’s fond of games of chance and games of skill, especially poker and golf. Like all children, he loves machines and electronic gadgets. Dion maintains that if she has become a woman who is more sure of herself and finally able to tell an architect that she doesn’t like the plans he’s proposing, it’s thanks to her husband, who had the wisdom to let her assert herself, and also thanks to her child. “A woman who has had a baby no longer sees the world in the same way,” she says. “She necessarily becomes more sure of herself.” Dion is seriously thinking of having another child, right after her current tour. “I don’t want to miss that opportunity.” Everyone who has been around her knows that she’s great with children. Last winter when she met the poor children of Soweto, she spent a long time talking to them about the snow, bears and wolves in Canada, and about the two oceans and the wide open spaces where people from all over the world live together. She and the kids laughed a lot. She then encouraged them to tell her about their own country, which she was delighted to learn more about. Before flying to Johannesburg, Dion spent two days with a South African historian (a gift from her friend Julie Snyder), who told her about the history of his country and the key figures who helped shape it. A few days later, at the Cape, she visited Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela had been imprisoned for almost two decades. She wanted to see everything, to learn all about it. Ten years ago, that likely would not have interested her. All she wanted then was to improve her singing. She was extremely disciplined. But not now. Now there’s her son. There’s life, her building projects, the world to be seen, cities to be discovered. This past summer, she finally got to know the beautiful and vibrant city of Berlin, where she had sung many times without having a chance to be a tourist. “I’m discovering the world with my son. I’m going to school with him, just like my mother did with me.” Dion has often mentioned how miserable she was at school, for a number of reasons. Because she was learning more at home, but especially, she confides, “because all the girls were prettier than me. They were more stylish, more sure of themselves. I was the class plain Jane.” Now she’s the sexy fashion plate of her generation. She’s finally taken charge of herself, accepting and proudly displaying her beauty. She’s lucky to have a body that can wear the creations of the most glamorous couturiers, the sexy, form-fitting dresses that make her look so spectacular. Thick skin Comments or criticism about the way she looks and speaks and her choice of songs have never bothered her, except when people said she was anorexic. Actually, she has a hearty appetite and often wolfs down food after her shows. She’s strong, supple and buff. And finally proud of her body. Another thing that made her dislike school was that she didn’t have any girlfriends. She discovered friendship only later in life, when she was in her thirties. “And that became very precious to me,” she says. “Chatting with another woman, one on one, just girl talk, about our children, our men or whatever, is a great pleasure.” In her twenties, Dion focused on her voice, developing it into a unique, sublime, world-renowned instrument. In her thirties, the woman in her blossomed. In becoming a mother and developing female friendships, she discovered and began to explore the world of women. Paradoxically, at the same time, she also entered the more macho world of construction, where she now feels as much at home as she does onstage. She’s as happy in the role of construction site boss as in that of a magnificent midlife woman. This article originally appeared in the October 2008 issue of More. Edited October 6, 200816 yr by SuuS
October 6, 200816 yr great read suusinator thanks :D i agree with her being the workds most famous Canadian Alanis Morissette 2nd and Shania Twain 3rd :kink:
October 6, 200816 yr Author Amazing read I thought. Glad to read she's more involved and in charge now. Interesting article.
October 6, 200816 yr hopefully someone will scan the article Edited October 6, 200816 yr by xnataliex
October 7, 200816 yr Amazing read, thanks for posting Suus :D great read suusinator thanks :D i agree with her being the workds most famous Canadian Alanis Morissette 2nd and Shania Twain 3rd :kink: Shania Twain 2nd :P :P :P All my favorite artists are famous :wub:
October 7, 200816 yr Author Thats kinda sad though when u think of it :( Glad its different now though. Good for her she found her way.
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