She said: “I love him. I’m still in love with him.”
Asked on ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ if she hoped to fall in love again, she added: “Not now. I’m still married to him. I’ve never kissed another man in my life.”
But Celine – who has children René-Charles, 14, and five-year-old twins Nelson and Eddy with her late husband – insisted she still has a lot of “love” in her life.
She said: “I love. I love. I love him. I’m still in love with him. And I have the love of my children. I have the love of my fans. I love the people that I work with. So, my life is not empty of love.
“I go to bed with him and I come onstage with him, and…so, I’m still married to him.”
The ‘Think Twice’ hitmaker was just 12 years old when she met René, who became her manager.
And she remembered her spouse, who was 38 at the time, looked “very beautiful” and she appreciated the fact he didn’t treat her like a child.
She recalled: “I thought he looked very beautiful. He looked great. I felt confident that this man was not treating me as a ‘Oh, hi, little pumpkin’ or ‘Hi, little sweetie’ or like a little baby.”
Celine found it difficult watching her husband suffer in the months leading to his death, so has taken comfort from knowing he is no longer in pain.
She said: “Before he left, it was very, very difficult for all of us – for me, especially, and my children – to see the man of my life die a little bit more every day.
“The man of my life was my partner, and we were one. So, when he stopped suffering, I said to myself, ‘He’s OK, and he deserves not to suffer.’ ”
Celine was 19 and René 45 when they started dating, and got engaged in 1991, three years before they tied the knot.
Additional reporting: Sydney Morweng, news editor.
