I Am: Celine Dion director Irene Taylor reflects on the making of the harrowing documentary [Video]

But this, IA: CD’s director Irene Taylor says, is how Dion insisted on being seen.

“I was horrified. I was very uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure if she was breathing for the first few minutes,” Taylor says of the experience filming Dion’s sudden medical emergency, which happened during a recording session.

At this point, Taylor had been filming and following Dion for months, had documented the regular physical therapy sessions and had many conversations with her about the illness which had drastically impacted her life. But this was her frightening firsthand experience seeing what Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS) actually looked like. And what it looked like was a living hell.

“I had headphones on and I was recording sound. I was right next to her and I couldn’t get out of where I was standing because she had people around her,” Taylor says. “I tilted the microphone a little more so that I could try …