Mixing business with pleasure has been, at times, problematic for Celine Dion and Rene Angelil. Speaking to Vegas Deluxe's Robin Leach, the Canadian songbird opens up about her 18-year marriage to the talent manager, whom she wed at age 26 in 1994. (The pair first met when Dion was 12 and Angelil was 38; they began dating when the "Power of Love" singer was 19.)
"Rene and I had our tough times. It wasn't always easy," Dion reveals. "We had tension between us. It's never easy being husband and wife, but add to that we are in business together, dealing with all the added pressures of shows, concerts, tours, traveling. It was hard — a lot of hard work."
"Up until seven years ago, we weren't communicating properly," says Dion, mom to Rene-Charles, 12, and twins Eddy and Nelson, 2. Feeling lost, the Grammy winner turned to a girlfriend for marital advice. "I was old school and kept it hidden. Forget about it, and it will go away. I talked about it with my best girlfriend, and she taught me it never goes away. It sits there and gets worse," she recalls. "She taught me how to say things the right way."
Dion says her pal talked to her "about the real meaning of communication, the right way to communicate." She adds, "It changed the way we related to each other. My husband is also my best friend. We trust each other with our lives. We live for each other."
After opening the lines of communication, life with 71-year-old Angelil has been better than ever. "It changed the way we related to each other," Dion explains. "We laugh. We joke. We kid each other. We want our marriage to last forever. Talk over everything and you'll find you are still on the honeymoon . . . It's the secret."
Dion and Angelil renewed their wedding vows in Las Vegas on Jan. 5, 2000. "It's sad that so many people break up, their loving relationships end and divorce happens when, if there was proper communication, they would be able to hold on to the beauty of their early years together," she says. "We made it through, so everybody else can, too."