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A Different Kind of Wealth
RD: You establish a foundation in those first years.Dion: You do, and that foundation makes you solid for the rest of your life. A foundation, true values -- that's what I received. And that's going to be our biggest challenge -- to raise our kid in this environment of a not-normal life, and remain normal people.
RD: You want René-Charles to have stability.
Dion: Yes. I can't just go on tour and not be able to see him. I won't be the best -- as a mother or a performer. I want to be professional in my show-business life, but I also want to be professional as a mother. I have a very important role to play.
René and I were in Vegas, and I said, "Why can't we just establish ourselves at one place? Why can't people just come and see our show?" I thought it was a little pretentious for me to be thinking that way. Then I thought, It's the only way.
Luckily, Caesars Palace offered us this contract. We're building a house there now. I will leave home around six at night for the show. At six o'clock the day's almost over for a little one. This way, when I leave home I know he's fine, and I can be the best of me. And the show is going to be spectacular.
It's being produced by the people from Cirque du Soleil who did O. There are going to be about a hundred people onstage. For the first time, I'm going to have a beautiful, visual show. All these things -- I'm back in the studio, singing again, the Vegas show, René-Charles is going to be fine. I'm excited. I'm happy to come back.
RD: Tell us what René-Charles is like. What have you enjoyed most about being with him?
Dion: Every single moment. When he was very, very small, it was so nice to just hold him. He smells so good, he's so warm and nice. I love when you take off their socks in the morning, and he opens his toes, and there's fuzz. If you smell the toes, it smells a little like vinegar.
RD: We've read that you have another fertilized embryo that is frozen. Are you planning to implant it?
Dion: After Vegas, because I don't want to give any less to the second child. They deserve to be breastfed the same way, and Mommy to be home, and I don't want to say in three months I'm going to start working again, so can you drink a little faster. That is, if we're lucky enough to have another one.
RD: Women say that having a child is a defining factor in a woman's life. How has it changed you?
Dion: I hope it doesn't sound wrong, but nothing else matters now. He's the center of our universe. I'll die for my child. I would open my whole body up -- take whatever you need. It changes your life, and you love them so much. They are you. The first day when they cut the umbilical cord, whew, that was hard already. The cuts start right there. Then they start to walk and want to fly, they start school, they get married. It's always a cut.
RD: It's so hard to let go.
Dion: It is hard. I'm not saying nothing else is important, because you have to be healthy, you have to take care of your happiness, but there's no question that he's priority.
RD: Every parent has dreams for their children. What are your dreams for René-Charles?
Dion: I don't care if he's a garbageman, a fireman, a rock 'n' roll guitar player, a lawyer, a dentist, a father. I just want him to be a good human being. I want him to be generous, caring, open-minded. I think that's what's most important. Sometimes you're nobody in life. You have no money, you're not successful, you're not pretty, but you mean well and have a good heart. People should pay more attention to people like that.
RD: You've said in the past that you're very close to your mother. Is she the one who passed on these values to you?
Dion: I'm sure it comes from growing up in a family without money. Even though my parents had just enough to put food on the table for us, the door was open for anybody else who knocked. Today I have a big house and all the help in the world, and I wish my mother could have had all this. She had nothing. At the same time, everything we needed, she gave to us. She gave her life to us.
RD: Now that you're a mother, do you appreciate her more?
Dion: She's a god to me, my idol, the person that I look up to the most.
RD: She raised fourteen children, right?
Dion: Fourteen children, and none of us are cuckoo, or stupid. We all work hard. We all mean well.
RD: How often do you have family gatherings?
Dion: Everybody at once is only at Christmas because we're about 200 people. They all live in Montreal. We have a house there, but we spend more time here.
RD: How did growing up in a large family affect you? You've said that you were pampered by your brothers and sisters because you were the baby.
Dion: What has been given to me is security. Whatever happens, when you have this foundation of love -- of being able to count on brothers and sisters and parents -- you know you have someone there to support you. I don't want to end up dying alone. Having a big family, I know there will be a lot of people around all the time. My wealth is my family, the people around me, the love and support.
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