It's been two years since Celine Dion's manager husband, Rene Angelil, died following a lengthy cancer battle. But the pain of his passing will never leave her.
The French-Canadian singer, 49, opened up about the love of her life to Australia's "The Project" in a new interview that aired on Feb. 18, and her memories are heartbreaking.
"For three years, my husband did not have a sip of water or food. He was eating through a tube," Celine told "The Project" journalist Lisa Wilkinson of Rene (via Daily Mail Australia), who died of throat and head cancer at age 73 in January 2016.
"The only thing I hoped while he was in three years of agony — I wanted him to live in peace. I wanted him to feel so light and no worries. He had a little heart attack, it's so quick, he didn't even feel anything. I thought that he was like liberated from his pain," the native French speaker added.
Celine also opened up about how Rene, to whom she was married for 21 happy years, was her world in so many ways.
"He taught me everything. He's the only man I've seen. He's the only man I've loved. I've never kissed another man in my life," she admitted.
She also explained how her mother didn't support her romance with Rene, who'd been her manager since she was a child — at least at first, considering he was 26 years Celine's senior.
"Because it was not the person that she wanted for me… And I don't blame her… I said, 'Mum, I really love him. It hurts inside,'" Celine explained on "The Project."
She admitted she'd been smitten with Rene for a long time. "I fell in love with him immediately," she said. "Not in the romance way, I was 12 years old. I was in love with the way he treated everyone around me, including my whole family and myself."
Celine previously told "Access Hollywood" the same thing. "It was very difficult for [my mother]," she said in a 2013 interview. "When I told her I had some really strong feelings for Rene, she tried everything to kill him and make me snap out of it. I was very frustrated and mad at first but she tried to make me understand that this man tried marriage twice before, he has three children, he's not responsible."
"She said, 'You're my daughter, you're my baby and I want the perfect Prince Charming for you.' And then it was so strong that my whole family was in love with him and she had no choice," Celine added.
Earlier in February, Celine made another confession about Rene: She grasps a bronze replica of her late husband's hand before every performance.
"I shake my husband's hand and knock on wood with him every night before every show," she told the Daily Telegraph's Stellar magazine (via People.com). "Even after he's gone, I still talk to him."
People magazine also reported that the Grammy winner keeps the seat behind the sound mixing desk at the Colosseum, her Las Vegas Caesars Palace residency theater, empty in his honor.