“My life is slipping away”: Billy Connolly bravely opens up about his battle with Parkinson’s disease
Billy Connolly has gotten candid in his BBC documentary series Made In Scotland as he reveals he feels his “life is slipping away” due to his battle with Parkinson’s disease.
The comedian, who is now 76, was diagnosed with the illness in 2013 and said: “There is no denying it, I am 75, I have got Parkinson’s and I am at the wrong end of the telescope of life, I am at the point where the yesteryears mean more than the yesterdays.
“Because it is back there in my childhood and youth when I go to all those things that made me that live keenest in my memory now. My life, it’s slipping away, and I can feel it and I should.”
He goes on to say: “I’m 75, I’m near the end, I’m a damn sight nearer the end than I am the beginning, but it doesn’t frighten me, it’s an adventure and it is quite interesting to see myself slipping away.”
According to The Mirror, Billy was forced to ask the cameras to stop filming as he suffered from uncontrollable shaking throughout the process.
Parkinson’s disease is when sections of the brain become increasingly damaged over time.
Discussing his symptoms, Billy said: "As bits slip off and leave me, talents leave and attributes leave. I don’t have the balance I used to have, I don’t have the energy I used to have,” and claimed he is being prepared for “some other adventure, which is over the hill.”
Billy spoke about the disease and described it as “losing all” of himself to be on the “shadowy side of the hill, doing the next episode in the spirit world.”
The two-part documentary gives an insight into the comedian’s world, who throughout his time, garnered massive success.
Billy was diagnosed with prostate cancer and Parkinson’s on the same day in 2013.
He has now been cleared of the cancer and is currently residing in Florida in the US with his wife Pamela Stephenson where he aims to continue fighting his illness.