Photograph by Eva Rinaldi
Comedian Billy Connolly has thanked an Australian fan for his early Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, after he noticed the actor’s “strange gait”.
In a frank interview on US radio, Connolly described the moment a fan warned him he may have the disease, saying:
“It was the strangest thing of all. I was doing Conan O’Brien’s thing and they put me up in the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Los Angeles. I was walking through the lobby and every time I had gone through there was a crowd of boys and girls and a couple of adults.
It turned out they were dancers from Australia. The guy who was in charge of them came over to me one day and said, “Billy, I’m a big fan, I’m from Tasmania”. He said, “I’m a surgeon and I have been watching you walking, you have a strange gait…You’re showing distinct signs of early onset Parkinson’s disease, see your doctor.””
Whilst Connolly is thankful for the early diagnosis, he has said that he plans to deal with the disease by ignoring it, telling the interviewer:
“I prefer not to give it any notice. I don’t see much shaking going on and I have always had a shitty memory anyway. I have forgotten things my entire career. I was taking drugs to control the Parkinson’s but I’m not on them anymore.”
Connolly has recently been given the all-clear after undergoing surgery in the US for prostate cancer in December in the US.
