Celine Dion and Rene Angélil: Controversies Surrounding Their Marriage

Unfortunately, the tabloid lawsuit wasn’t the only Las Vegas-based legal issue the couple faced. In 2002, Rene Angélil made headlines for all the wrong reasons: the manager faced a civil lawsuit regarding an alleged sexual assault from two years prior. Yun Kyeong Sung Kwon claimed Angélil attacked her in a Las Vegas hotel and then pressured her into accepting payment for her silence. Kwon further alleged that Angélil never followed through on two parts of their initial deal: apologizing for the incident and submitting proof that he was HIV-negative.

Angélil maintained that the incident didn’t happen, but nevertheless settled with Kwon when she made her initial claim in 2000. Lawyer Marty Singer explained this somewhat strange choice to CBC News: “Listen, every time you’re a celebrity, you always deal with extortionist threats,” he said. “Do you fight it? Sometimes, they go away, and in this case, we entered into a confidential settlement agreement.”

It may seem odd to pay a settlement if you’re innocent, but Angélil had bigger issues to worry about at the time: his throat cancer diagnosis and Dion’s pregnancy. In the end, Angélil and Dion came out on the winning side of this case. Kwon stood trial for trying to extort the couple and was sentenced to prison in 2005. This verdict allowed Dion and Angélil to return to a relatively quiet life.