Cline Dion thanks fans for support in time of grief

Cline Dion wants her fans to know how much their best wishes and words of support have meant to her and her family, following the funeral of her husband and longtime manager, Ren Anglil.

"Your prayers and compassion have helped during this most difficult timemore than you'll ever know. I thank you from the bottom of my heart," Dion said in a statement that was released Friday, one week after Anglil's funeral.

Anglil died on Jan. 14 at the couple's home Las Vegas after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 73.

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The funeral was held on Friday, Jan. 22, in Montreal at the Notre-Dame Basilica, the same church where the couple wed 21 years ago.

Fans lined up for hours in the cold to pay their respects.

During the visitation on the day before the funeral, Dion was expected to be there for one hour. Instead, she stayed for seven hours to personally thank her fans who went to the church one by one.

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In the statement, the songstress also thanked the Quebec government for holding a national funeral to honour Anglil with "such a beautiful tribute in his name."

The letter was signed by Dion, her three sons Ren-Charles, Nelson and Eddy, as well as by Anglil's three children from his previous marriages, Patrick, Jean-Pierre and AnneMarie.