Carly Simon Reveals Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis: ‘I Am Still Very Much Here’
Categoria: Musica
The legendary singer also told fans that she was treated for basal cell carcinoma on her face and that she's recorded a new album, Comes in Waves.
Por Billboard | 27/07/2026
Carly Simon has revealed to fans that she’s been battling a pair of health issues lately, with the 81-year-old “Nobody Does It Better” singer vowing that despite the daily difficulties of her dual diagnosis, she is “still very much here.” In a statement shared with Billboard on Monday morning (July 27), Simon acknowledged that she’s gotten a number of letters lately asking about her “relative silence” and what she’s been up to. “The truth is, I’ve been learning how to live with Parkinson’s disease,” she wrote. “It has taken me some time to understand the diagnosis, to adjust to it, and to decide how much I wanted to say about it publicly. Parkinson’s is different for everyone, and it can be unpredictable. Some days I’m so tired I can’t get the day moving at all. On others, it gives me a little more room to move, think, work, and feel like myself.” The singer said her issues began with arthritis in both knees and one hip, but after getting all three joints replaced, she figured her continued difficulty walking was part of the recovery process. As her mobility continued to deteriorate and she had trouble standing up from chairs and walking without assistance, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the Mayo Clinic. Parkinson’s is a progressive brain disorder with symptoms including tremors, slowness in movement, limb stiffness and balance issues, as well as some non-motor symptoms including depression, anxiety, apathy, hallucinations and sleep disorders. An estimated 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with Parkinson’s, with nearly 90,000 people diagnosed with the disorder every year. Simon said she began treatment, including taking medication, to help with joint stiffness and other unspecified symptoms. “There is no tidy or predictable schedule to the illness. It does not consult my calendar before deciding what kind of day I am going to have,” Simon wrote. “Parkinson’s is usually associated with movement, tremors, and balance, but it can affect much more than the body. It can bring anxiety, depression, exhaustion, and apathy. The apathy is particularly strange. You can find yourself lying there like a starfish drying in the sun, arms pointing in all directions, while nothing inside is telling you to get up, read, watch, write, sing, call someone, or do much of anything at all.” She added that during the same unspecified period in which she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, which has no cure, she was also treated for basal cell carcinoma on her face. And though the cancer was removed, the surgery affected her appearance and made her more self-conscious about being seen in public. “I have always been more critical of my appearance than anyone else could possibly imagine (check out the irony of having written ‘You’re So Vain.’),” she wrote. ” And this gave my inner critic quite a lo