Sir Billy: My gong sounded the end for showbiz career
HE spent decades on tour, making films and appearing on TV shows.
But Sir Billy Connolly says being knighted in 2017 was the ‘full stop’ he needed to make the decision to retire from showbusiness.
The 78-year- old comedian was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013 and announced his retirement from live performances five years later.
Glasgow-born Sir Billy – who is known affectionately as the Big Yin – said: ‘It’s been nice.
‘It’s funny talking about the end of my career because I’ve given it up and it’s strange talking about it as a thing of the past. It’s nice to come to that conclusion myself, that I should stop. It’s a nice, healthy feeling.’
Explaining how he had finally reached the decision to bow out, the star said: ‘It was obvious.
‘I had done everything I wanted to do, and I’ve got this Parkinson’s and I don’t want to be on stage with Parkinson’s. And that’s the end of it.
‘And it’s a natural end because I’m dead happy in my skin. I had a nice career, I did rather well and I got knighted and that’s like the full stop.’
Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease include decreased mobility and difficulty speaking, leaving him unable to perform as he had in his pomp.
But Sir Billy said that he did not worry about the increasing impact of the condition on his life.
‘I don’t care about it. It’s there and I just deal with it. I don’t go to meetings with other Parkinson’s people and talk about it, I just get on with it,’ he added.
‘I get invited all the time to these Parkinson’s society things, to come and have lunch on a Wednesday and talk about Parkinson’s. I can’t imagine anything more awful.
‘I went one day with my son and we were having lunch and it was less than great. Talking about Parkinson’s, it’s depressing. It’s just a fact of life, it’s in me and I deal with it.’
Previously a vocal opponent of Scottish independence, Sir Billy announced his support for the movement following the 2016 Brexit referendum.
He also said he thought Scotland was moving towards leaving the Union.
Sir Billy added: ‘I don’t know if they’ll ever do it, but I think that’s the way they’re heading.’