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Celine Dion’s husband loses battle with cancer

Celine Dion’s husband, René Angélil, passed away on Thursday after a long battle with throat cancer. He was 73 years old.

He died at his home in Henderson under the care of a physician, confirmed the Clark County Office of the Coroner in a statement on Thursday.

“We have determined Mr. Angélil’s death was due to natural causes,” John Fudenberg, Clark County coroner, said. “No further investigation into his death is expected.”

Angélil has been a part of Celine Dion’s life since they met each other when she was 12 years old. He served as both her manager and mentor, even mortgaging his home in order to fund her first record, La voix du bon Dieu.

Their relationship became romantic in 1987, and they became engaged in 1991. The couple married in December of 1994 in a lavish ceremony at Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, Quebec.

Last month, the two celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary, with the singer Instagramming a sweet throwback photo of the two holding hands on their wedding day.

Angélil was originally diagnosed with throat cancer in 1999. In 2014, Dion took an indefinite leave of absence from her Las Vegas residency to care for him after he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his throat in December of 2013 following his second cancer diagnosis.

“It’s not hard to take time off,” the legendary singer told ET in May. “It’s not hard to be with him, obviously. It’s not hard to be with the family and the kids. It’s hard because life imposes things on you.”

In August, she returned to the Colosseum stage at Caesars Palace, largely because of Angélil’s urging.

“He’s been there for me all my life, and I’ve been there for him all my life,” she continued. “There’s a part of me that never really left the stage. I wanted to be there but I needed to be someplace else which was much more important at that time. To be by his side. To be by my family.”