Rene Angelil was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998 . His health got so bad last year that Celine took a leave of absence from her Las Vegas show at Caesars Palace. Sources close to Celine tell us Rene ' s death was completely unexpected because recently he ' s felt much better . In fact, we ' re told he and Celine had planned business meetings together for Thursday . He and Celine have children . . . a 14 -year -old and 5 -year -old twins. He also has 3 other children from a previous marriage . People first reported Rene ' s death . He was 73 .