Celine Dion Shares Tear-Filled Reaction to Kelly Clarkson’s Rendition of ‘My Heart Will Go On’

In an emotional video shared to (formerly Twitter) Dion praised the American Idol winner after she opened her September 27 episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show with a cover of Dion’s megahit, “My Heart Will Go On,” from the 1997 film, Titanic.

“You were absolutely incredible,” Dion said in the video, posted October 8. “Fantastic. I loved it so much.”

After her performance, Clarkson admitted she only attempted to sing the power ballad because Titanic rigid Kate Winslet was a guest on the show that day.”

Usually I would never cover that song,” she told her audience, “because there’s some songs you don’t want to go near as a vocalist.”

In the video, Dion — who returned to the stage at the 2024 Olympics amid her battle with stiff-person syndrome — shared how moved she was by Clarkson’s emotional response to her performance of Édith Piaf’s “Hymne À L’Amour,” prompting an emotional reaction of her own.

“When I came back from the Olympics, I got to watch and listen to your reaction to my performance on the Eiffel Tower,” the 56-year-old said as she choked back tears. “It was so sweet to hear your voice — your voice was breaking — and it touched me so tremendously. You were crying and then you made me start crying! What’s up with all this freaking crying?”

“I was not ready for that,” Kelly said at the time as she commended Dion for her first performance in four years. “If you know anything about Céline right now, she feels this is her purpose.”

“I’m so sorry, I’m trying to hold it together,” she continued. “But that she got through that, that was incredible. And in my field, she is the gold winner for vocal athletes.”

Dion went on to say that she hopes she and Clarkson can see each other “very soon” before thanking her again for her sweet comments and touching cover of the track.

Clarkson uploaded her own video following Dion’s in which she thanked the “I’m Alive” singer for noticing her and her performance.

“So, I got this video sent to me and it all flooded — I was working with Jason, my musical director here at the show. I was working with him in the studio and we were actually doing stuff of ‘Kellyokes,’ and all of a sudden I get this thing from my manager, and I cried because it was Céline Dion saying that she saw my performance, and she knows my name, so that’s cool,” Clarkson began.

“And it blew me away,” she added before sharing a story of the first time she covered one of the Canadian songstress’ songs during her winning run on American Idol‘s first season.

Clarkson recalled having laryngitis and feeling like she didn’t do the ballad justice, telling fans and Dion that her performance of “My Heart Will Go On,” felt like a redeeming moment for her 19-year-old self.

“Cut to 22 years later, I finally got a Céline Dion performance and I felt like I sang it already, you know?” Clarkson quipped. “I didn’t have laryngitis, I wasn’t sick and I got to honor someone who is such a hero to me vocally, like she is one of my main inspirations of why I’m a singer.”

She continued, “And she watched it and I did good. And I feel like I made my 19-year-old self very proud, that’s why I did.”

The excited singer turned talk show host said she may just watch the video a few more times, as she appeared in disbelief about Dion’s reaction to her performance. She also invited Dion to come on The Kelly Clarkson Show before noting that she’d head wherever Dion wants her to be to make this meeting happen.

“It’s like one of my — like I can quit now in life,” Clarkson quipped. “I’m retiring. Goodnight.”

“@celinedion you have no idea how much you even notice my existence means to me! Thank you so much for being such an amazing example of true passion and being one of the greatest vocalists of all time that I am still, to this day, inspired by ❤️,” she captioned the enthusiastic clip.