Celine Dion has opened up about her 18-year marriage to her manager husband Rene Angelil, insisting they suffered some real lows before learning to communicate with one another properly.

The French Canadian superstar, who is currently taking part in her second concert residency in Las Vegas, admits working and living with her spouse has been difficult at times and their relationship almost broke down completely in 2006.

The singer tells Vegas Deluxe reporter Robin Leach, "Rene and I had our tough times. It wasn't always easy.

"We had tension between us. It's never easy being husband and wife, but add to that we are in business together, dealing with all the added pressures of shows, concerts, tours, travelling. It was hard - a lot of hard work."

She claims it was only after she turned to a friend for relationship advice that she and Angelil were able to work through their problems because "up until seven years ago, we weren't communicating properly".

Dion, 45, explains, "She taught me it (problems) never goes away. It sits there and gets worse. She taught me how to say things the right way. It's (sic) lessons that every married couple should know to hold their relationship together...

"It changed the way we related to each other. (Now) we laugh. We joke. We kid each other. We want our marriage to last forever. Talk over everything and you'll find you are still on the honeymoon... Communication - it's the most important. It's the secret."

Dion met Angelil when she was just 12 years old and he was 38, but they didn't start dating until she was 19.

They wed in 1994 and have three children together.