I can hear my husband upstairs laughing uncontrollably right now as I’m writing this… through tears. That’s what he’s hearing: my sobs. Sobbing through Celine Dion’s performance at the Elie Saab show in Riyadh last night. 

 

But if you love her as I do, and I know you do, how could you watch this without weeping? The cocktail of emotions! Joy and relief, of course, that she’s back on stage, with that VOICE, closing the show, and it’s her first time singing in Saudi Arabia; all of that mixed with a tinge of worry, because of course we know what she’s been struggling with; but still hope, hope that she has done as she promised, which is that she would never give up the fight to come back to where she belongs; and of course, finally, amusement. Because no matter what, no matter where, Celine Dion will never not be hilarious. And corny and awkward and extra and weird. When she starts dancing, doing some kind of strange chug-a-chug step to the beat around the 7:10 mark of the video below, it almost ended me. F-ck you Stiff Person Syndrome, try your best if you want but you can ever take Celine’s cheese away from Celine!

 

Right, but like, back to my crying. It hits different now when she sings “I’m Alive”. Admittedly this is not my favourite Celine track – or at least it wasn’t. But it has so much more meaning now. 

“When you call on me
When I hear you breathe
I get wings to fly
I feel that I'm alive”

That’s me! That’s you! When we call on her, we give her wings to fly, to keep her alive! She told me this, to my face, back in June when I interviewed her at the premiere of her documentary. AND I BELIEVE IT!

 

OK let me stop shouting now and talk business. The business of the comeback, since it started with the documentary and then continued in Paris at the Olympics opening ceremony. Small steps on huge occasions. But controlled events, requiring not too much of her. Just like this one in Riyadh which is a bigger lift than Paris, with an additional song and some choreography on the runway but not too aggressive of a push from where she was four months ago. This is our Queen of All Feelings slowly feeling her way to a proper return. I love it for her, and I love seeing Law Roach by her side through all of it! This look!

 

And you can tell how close they are, how much she trusts him to have reached out to him this year. 

Celine Dion and Law Roach attend the Elie Saab anniversary fashion show “1001 Seasons of Elie Saab” at “The Venue” in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Celine was also joined by her eldest, René-Charles at the event and this is another thing that kills me. I said it a couple of weeks ago when she was at Adele’s show in Vegas – the way her boys have been riding for her, now that it’s just the four of them, her three most precious generals. 

 

Oh look, I’m sobbing again. 

Celine Dion and René-Charles attend the Elie Saab anniversary fashion show “1001 Seasons of Elie Saab” at “The Venue” in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Let’s talk about Jennifer Lopez who has also, through the years, worn a lot of Elie Saab and performed during the fashion show last night. She opened her set with a few bars from “I Will Survive”, which she’s done before, but just like it is with Celine and “I’m Alive”, it hits different for JLo now – and she made f-cking sure we got the message. You don’t have to watch the whole thing, for the gossip, just the first few seconds will do: 

“I Will Survive” was followed by “Waiting For Tonight”, “On the Floor”, and “Let’s Get Loud”, with full out choreo and vocals and let me remind you, she was in LA at the Wicked premiere on Saturday night, right after doing two weeks of promo in the US and in England for “Unstoppable”. The flight from LA to Riyadh is around 18 hours. And somehow this bitch still found time to rehearse. She will survive… by doing what she does best: hustle. 

 

Backstage there was a cute moment between JLo and Halle Berry. Check out Halle joining the group and grabbing JLo’s hand immediately. 

They’ve been friends over the years. Here’s a shot of them from 2010 when Halle was with Olivier Martinez and JLo was still with Marc Anthony.

Halle Berry and Jennifer Lopez attend 2010 Carousel of Hope Ball, Benefiting the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, Los Angeles, America - 23 Oct 2010

So they know a thing or two about surviving men who disappoint them. Same goes for Angelina Jolie, by the way, who’s booked a movie with Halle, Maude v Maude. Can we find a way to throw JLo into that mix? 

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