Celine Dion has "never" gone shopping like an "ordinary" person.
The ‘My Heart Will Go On’ singer – who has sons Rene-Charles, 16, and Nelson and Eddy, six, with late husband Rene Angelil – admits her fame means she gets mobbed when she goes into stores, and even before she became a household name, the chaotic life as the youngest of 14 children meant she never had the luxury of casual browsing.
She said: "I love fashion a lot, obviously. I’m a woman on top of it, but it’s hard for me to go window shopping. That’s bad, it ain’t happening with me, there’s no window shopping. But I have such a wonderful relationship with my fans, even more than ever. People had so much compassion since Rene passed. I’ve always been accessible like an open book…
"I’ve never had the regular thing of being ordinary and going window shopping. It’s not me to want to go into a store that’s closed and opens just for me even though I love shopping too much.
"I’ve never been able to go shopping. Even when I was 11, I was at the kitchen table singing for my brothers and sisters."
And the 48-year-old singer realised just how big a star she had become when she attempted to go shopping in Japan, and ended up having to "run" away from the store after a "little panic" developed over her presence.
She told Las Vegas Review Journal: "One time in Japan, I was shopping, and we thought it was going to be OK, but I was being followed. I turned around, they had to put up a red cable between me and the crowd.
"I had to run because there was a little panic going on. People started to accumulate, and I started to run on the sidewalk. I had to push through a doorway window to get into the car.
"There was about 300 to 400 people shaking the car. I’d been recognised, and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I thought The Beatles were still alive.
"I’m not saying this pretentiously, but I never thought something like this could happen to me. I understood that if I want to do something normal, I have to organise my freedom. My team gives me some distance."
Celine Dion can’t shop
