3

I don't think it was nostalgia, but rather a kind of curiosity about a very faraway period of my life that I thought I'd forgotten, and in any case, had never thought about so intensely. I felt as if I were see­ing and hearing the real living little girl I had been, feeling her very close to me again, so close I could recognize her dreams, her wishes, her plans. And I felt a little like one of those dolls that contain a series of smaller dolls, each inside the other, with that little girl Celine inside of me.

But these images quickly began to lose their color and clarity. Afterward, I thought for days and days about my childhood, and the whole journey I had traveled. Of what I'd been and done or tried to do for twenty years, starting with my first performances and that first pair of high heels.

And I kept asking myself why I wanted and dreamed so much about all of this, all that's happened to me. Why, at twenty, fifteen, at twelve, even at eight, I think, and even at five, I so wanted to suc­ceed, why I dreamed so much of becoming a famous singer who'd be listened to in every corner of the planet.

Not everyone is driven by such ambition. A lot of young boys and girls spend a long time wondering what to do with their lives. Some never find an answer. But I always knew. Not that I claim any credit for knowing. I'm like that tubby Obelix, a character in a famous French comic strip, who fell into a magic potion when he was a baby. As soon as I was born, I fell into singing, show business. And once in it, I felt like a fish in water.

I've loved every bit of the life I've led up to this sabbatical. I lived my most beautiful dreams to the fullest—a rare piece of luck. I've been fulfilled emotionally, professionally, artistically, and I always will be. I love and I'm loved. I sing and that is my happiness. And I thank heaven for it every day of my life.

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