Celine Dion believes husband escorted brother to heaven

Celine Dion is convinced her late husband Rene Angelil helped her brother make the journey to heaven as he died on her spouse's birthday.

The Canadian superstar was plunged into mourning on 14 January (16), when Rene, who had also served as her manager, lost his battle with throat cancer, aged 73. Her brother, Daniel, battled the same disease and he passed away just two days later, on what would have been Rene's 74th birthday.

Now Celine has opened up about the double heartbreak in a candid interview with America's ABC News, explaining the date of Daniel's death must have had something to do with Rene.

She said, "My brother, who passed away of pretty much the same cancer as him, died on Rene's birthday and I said to myself, 'For his birthday, my husband came and got my brother, because my brother was too weak to fly on his own.'"

During the interview, which aired in part on U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America on Wednesday (18May16), the singer revealed watching Rene suffer through his illness was "the worst", and although her life now is "a different kind of hard", she is gradually moving on.

Celine confessed immediately after Rene's death, she would often wonder what her late love would do if put in her situation, but she is starting to make those decisions on her own.

She recalled asking herself, "After a while, am I gonna have signs all the time? Or do I have to make decisions as a woman, as a mother, as an artist?"

"You're never ready for something like this to happen," the mother of three continued of losing Rene. "Even though you expect it, when it hits you, you're not prepared. It's hard."

The My Heart Will Go On hitmaker added, "It's like I don't live with him physically, but I live with him inside of me..."

"He gave me a lot of strength, and you know what? I'm at peace," she concluded.