Sir Billy Connolly has made a sad admission about living with Parkinson’s as his health continues to decline.
The beloved comedian spoke candidly with BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Thursday as he marks 10 years since his diagnosis.
And in his heartbreaking sit-down, the 80-year-old admits he has had enough fighting for his health.
“I’m fed up with it,” he said, before joking: “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.”
Connolly says it is humour that has been his saving grace through it all.
“I’ve always been easily made [to] laugh. I am lucky with my sense of humour. I can laugh myself out of most things,” he said.
Still, that’s not to say he hasn’t experienced dark days since his diagnosis in 2013 on the same day he found out he had prostate cancer, of which he was later given the all-clear.
“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,” he said.
“I think most things can be conquered, 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.”
The Scottish star said his wife, author Pamela Stephenson, has been his guiding light throughout, helping him do everyday tasks.
“My wife puts my clothes on in the morning. It’s not very manly. Your mum puts your clothes on. I’m clumsy. I’m out of balance a lot and I fall,” he said.
Earlier this month, Connolly detailed his fall in an interview with his wife for The Guardian, in which he revealed he is experiencing a new symptom of the degenerative disorder: unevenness.
He even suffered “a couple of serious falls” in recent times as he noticed a “deterioration in my balance”.
“That was never such a problem before, but in the last year that has come and it has stayed,” he told Stephenson in the article.
“For some reason, I thought it would go away because a lot of the symptoms have come and gone away.”