Celine Dion is getting ready to release her first English album since the death of her husband and embark on a tour, but the singer said dating is the one thing she’s not ready to do yet.
“I don't date. I'm not ready to date,” Dion, 51, told TODAY's Sheinelle Jones in an exclusive interview that aired Wednesday. “I'm very lucky and happy to have so many people in my surrounding to make me — they make me laugh.”
René Angélil, who was Dion’s longtime love and manager, died in January 2016. The couple have three children together: René-Charles, 18, and 8-year-old twins Nelson and Eddy.
Dion recalled a special text message Angélil sent to her before he died.
"He called me before a show and give me a little message: 'I love you,'" she said. "And when I came home that night, it was very, very late ... And I didn't want to come and wake him up to give him a kiss, to wake him up and then he can't find sleep again. And the next morning, he was gone.
"So, we talked before. And he sent me a text message. So we said goodbye."
Dion said she saved the message and still looks at it.
"But I am at peace, because I know that he doesn't suffer," she said. "And I know that, right now, the courage that I have, he has given it to me all my life."
While Dion deeply feels Angélil’s presence in everything that she does, she said she misses having a partner.
“I miss to be touched. I miss to be hugged. I missed to be told, ‘You're beautiful,’” Dion said. “I miss what a boyfriend and I miss what a husband would do.”
So, although she isn't ready to date just yet, she isn't ruling it out for the future. In fact, when it comes to romance, she isn't ruling anything out — including the possibility of walking down the aisle again.
"I keep my soul and my heart open," she said when asked about that. "Because I am so much (about) love, you know — with my fans and my children and my family. And I feel that love, and it keeps me going. But love, love, love, love, love — the true love, the romance, the romantic love — is not present. But it's OK."
The sentiment reminded Sheinelle of the lyrics from Dion's 1999 hit, "That's the Way It Is": "Love comes to those who believe it, and that's the way it is."
"And I believe it," Dion said of the words she so often sings. "I take the love where it is, where it comes, in any forms."
Including the love she still feels from Angélil.
The powerhouse performer, who has sold more than 250 million albums worldwide and has won five Grammys, said that while “Courage” is her first English album without her husband by her side, he was still the driving force behind it all.
“'Courage' was representing the whole losing my husband, losing my manager, my kids losing their father, and to start there and to find the strength to keep going," she said. "Because I wanted to.”
"Courage," which is available for pre-order now, will be released Nov. 15.
Dion’s tour kicks off Wednesday night in Quebec City and includes nearly 70 dates in North America.
“I have to spread my wings. And I have to prove to myself, to my children, to my team, to my fans, that I'm fine,” she said. “I'm strong and I feel great.”