Billy Connolly makes heartbreaking admission about death amid Parkinson's battle

30 August 2024, 13:35 | Updated: 10 September 2024, 14:32

Comedy legend Sir Billy Connolly has opened up about his Parkinson's diagnosis as well as revealing his thoughts on death.

Sir Billy Connolly has made a candid admission about his Parkinson's battle and cancer journey.

In the lead up to his new TV show Billy Connolly: In My Own Words airing on Monday the 2nd of September, the 81-year-old has opened up to The Mirror about his health woes, as he continues to live with Parkinson's disease.

The Scottish comic detailed the fateful day in 2013 when his world was turned upside down when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's and prostate cancer at the same time.

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Billy revealed: "On the Monday, I had hearing aids. On the Tuesday I got pills for heart burn, which I have to take all the time, and on the Wednesday I got news that I had prostate cancer and Parkinson's."

He continued: "The doctors told me on the phone, ‘Look we have had the results and it is cancer.’ I said ‘Oh, nobody has ever said that to be me before’."

Billy went on to add: "My wife Pamela (Stephenson) was standing behind me and gave me a cuddle. I was not unduly worried."

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Speaking about his diagnosis, the funnyman stated: "I just thought ‘I have got Parkinson's. I wish he (Michael) had kept it to himself!’ It was easy (making fun if it).

"You just confront it and make decisions based on it. You just have to think ‘Don't think you are being badly treated (in life) or you have the bad pick of the straws. You are one of millions’. Just behave yourself and relax.

"You then realise it (death) is not the big thing everyone has made it out to be. It is nothing. It is just a sudden nothing."

The comedy legend has previously spoken about the impact Parkinson's has had on his daily life, stating last year: "My life has changed radically.

"I walk with a stick and at airports I have to get the wheelchair. I hate being dependent to that degree and I feel sorry for other people who are in wheelchairs and who have [it] worse than me. But it's a thing I just have to put up with.

"My wife puts my clothes on in the morning. It's not very manly. Your mum puts your clothes on.

"I'm clumsy and I lose my balance. I'm out of balance a lot and I fall. I'm fed up with it. I think I have a good attitude to it. I say to the disease 'I'll give you a break if you give me a break'. We're nice to each other.

"My memory is short. I forgot the name of one of my dogs, which is really awkward when you're shouting to it in the street you have to say 'hey doggy doggy', which is terrible. I felt embarrassed for the dog. You could tell it knew."

He continued: "I shake a bit. I don't shake every day, all the time. But for about an hour or two I'll shake and when I'm drawing it spoils it. Then I conquered it. I draw with shakes in it and it works.

"I think most things can be conquered and especially the depression. Depression is such a complex affair, but you have to conquer it, take it on face-to-face and refuse to be part of it.

"I've always been easily made to laugh. I am a lucky man with my sense of humour. I can laugh myself out of most things."

However Billy has revealed how therapy has made a drastic change to his life, stating: "Therapy saved my life. When I gave up alcohol I thought ‘That will do me'.

"I thought I might lose my wildness but it is not wildness. It is pretend wildness. I don't have any regrets. I am perfectly happy."

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