“He’s fully taken over”: Why Celine Dion's friends are worried about her “boy toy"
Celine Dion is known as a music icon around the world, but there are concerns amongst her closest friends that she’s being too heavily influenced by her backup dancer and close friend Pepe Munoz.
The 51-year-old My Heart Will Go On singer has been very close to Munoz after her husband René Angélil passed away at the age of 73 in 2016.
Munoz has been described as her “boy toy” but Dion has said herself that he is gay and her “best friend”.
The New York Post's Page Six has reported that some people in Dion’s inner circle fear that Munoz is “isolating” the star from her friends and “taking over” her life.
“Pepe is like her boy toy who is really trying to take over. He’s isolating her and people are feeling it,” an anonymous friend told the publication.
“She’s in love with this guy and listens to everything he’s saying.
“People go to him when they have questions. He’s fully taken over.”
Meanwhile, Dion shut down rumours of a relationship between herself and Munoz last year.
“Pepe is gay,” she told Extra. “At first, I think some people did not know that.”
The iconic singer added, “The thing is that he’s my best friend and we dance together and he did so much for me and even just holding my hand… it’s something that I haven’t had for a long time.”
She further defended herself to The Sun’s Dan Wooten in January saying that they’re just good friends.
"The press said, ‘Oh my God, René just passed and now there’s another man.’ Yeah, there’s another man in my life, but not the man in my life," she said. "We’re friends, we’re best friends."
Dion added, “Of course we hug and hold hands and go out, so people see that. I mean, he’s a gentleman. He’s giving me his hand to go out.”
Scroll through the gallery above to see Dion and Munoz spending time together as best friends.