A year after Rene Angelil died after a battle with throat cancer, Angelil's widow Celine Dion is remembering him fondly and crediting him with giving her the strength to proceed.

Dion told Entertainment Tonight during the launch of her The Celine Dion Collection (the project includes handbags, luggage and accessories) that being creative has helped her to move forward. Moreover, while Angelil's death originally left a huge void in her life, it has — over time — made her more of a warrior, she said.

"When he left, he came inside of all of my kids' hearts and mine, he gave the rest of his 50 percent for me to be complete, to continue the rest of my life, to feel strong and to believe that I can still do this and he will always be with me," she said as she teared up. "I feel stronger. He gave me the rest of him. I feel stronger, I step forward. I say what I mean, I mean what I say. I stand up for my kids and I feel like I'm the leader of the family."

Dion, who honored Angelil with recent track "Recovering," added that she's sure Angelil would be proud of her latest style endeavor.

"[The collection is] not something we had talked about, but I'm pretty sure he would be very proud because...we've always been 50/50 together in everything that I've done in my life."

Stars We Sadly Lost in 2016:

More From Lite 96.9 WFPG