Billy Connolly has said the challenges of his Parkinson’s Disease are “getting worse”.
The 78-year-old has been living with the disease for eight years after being diagnosed in 2013 while undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.
Billy offered fans an update on his heath during a session at the Edinburgh TV Festival this week.
Interviewed by his wife Pamela Stephenson (via BBC News), the comedian said: “The challenges lately have been medical. They are getting worse.
“I will have to weigh it up and see how bad it gets. Play it by ear.”
Billy told viewers of the online TV festival event that they would have “noticed I have been holding my left hand as this has been going on” as it had started to “jump around”.
Billy announced his retirement from live performances in 2018 and signed off from his stand-up career with a TV special last Christmas.
Speaking from his home in Florida, Sir Billy explained his decision to give up performing.
He said: “I have done my stand-up, I did it for 50 years, I did it quite well and it is time to stop.
“My illness, my Parkinson’s disease, has rendered me different. It would either mean renewing what I do and doing something else, or give up what I did and that’s what I’ve done.
“Why do I like to make people laugh? Because it is a jolly thing, it is good for you and it is good for them.
“It is a dynamite thing to be able to do, to get a laugh out of someone.”
He added: “Since the Parkinson’s I’m still the same in many ways, but I don’t think as sharply as I need to to be a stand-up.
“I’ve done 50 years and that’s plenty. Quitting is the right thing to do.”
The 78-year-old has been living with the disease for eight years after being diagnosed in 2013 while undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.
Billy offered fans an update on his heath during a session at the Edinburgh TV Festival this week.
Interviewed by his wife Pamela Stephenson (via BBC News), the comedian said: “The challenges lately have been medical. They are getting worse.
“I will have to weigh it up and see how bad it gets. Play it by ear.”
Billy told viewers of the online TV festival event that they would have “noticed I have been holding my left hand as this has been going on” as it had started to “jump around”.
Billy announced his retirement from live performances in 2018 and signed off from his stand-up career with a TV special last Christmas.
Speaking from his home in Florida, Sir Billy explained his decision to give up performing.
He said: “I have done my stand-up, I did it for 50 years, I did it quite well and it is time to stop.
“My illness, my Parkinson’s disease, has rendered me different. It would either mean renewing what I do and doing something else, or give up what I did and that’s what I’ve done.
“Why do I like to make people laugh? Because it is a jolly thing, it is good for you and it is good for them.
“It is a dynamite thing to be able to do, to get a laugh out of someone.”
He added: “Since the Parkinson’s I’m still the same in many ways, but I don’t think as sharply as I need to to be a stand-up.
“I’ve done 50 years and that’s plenty. Quitting is the right thing to do.”
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