Celine Dion has said she is not ready to date three years after the death of her husband, but misses being touched and hugged.

The singer’s husband Rene Angelil died in January 2016 after being diagnosed with throat cancer.

Dion, 51, said on the Today show: “I don’t date. I’m not ready to date.

“I’m very lucky and happy to have so many people surrounding me who make me laugh, but I miss to be touched. I miss to be hugged. I missed to be told, you are beautiful.

“I miss what a boyfriend and I miss what a husband would do.”

Rene Angelil and Celine Dion
Rene Angelil and Celine Dion (Ian West/PA)

Dion said she thinks about Angelil all the time.

“Before I talk, he goes through my mind,” she said.

“Would he do that? Is it too edgy? Would he be approving that?

“I believed in him so much and I still do.”

Dion and Angelil married in 1994 and had three sons together.