I DON’T THINK I’VE GOT THAT LONG...BUT THAT’S OK WITH ME
SIR Billy Connolly has admitted his Parkinson’s disease will kill him and that he expects the end to come soon.
In a TV special to be broadcast tonight, the 78-year-old says of the condition: ‘It’s got me and it’ll get me and it’ll end me. But that’s OK with me.’
And in an interview ahead of the programme, he said he brooded on death often. ‘I don’t think I’ve got that long,’ he said, but insisted death held no fear for him ‘at all’.
The frank admission comes nine months after Sir Billy brought the curtain down on a 0-year stand
‘It’s got me and it’ll end me’
up career, saying he had no desire to perform with Parkinson’s.
That extraordinary half century is celebrated in an ITV tribute, Billy Connolly: It’s Been A Pleasure, in which the Scot reflects on his journey from Clyde-side welder to comedy superstar.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, he described his daily struggle with Parkinson’s. He said he has difficulty with short-term memory and sleeps alone because he thrashes about. The disease ‘affects everything’, he said.
Sir Billy also told The Sunday Times he had no regrets about calling time on his career, saying: ‘I don’t want to be a disabled comedian; I don’t want to be a comedian you feel sorry for.’
Speaking from his home in Key West, Florida, he said he had not yet seen tonight’s TV special.
‘I left it in the hands of people who’ve got more sense than me. I don’t have a favourite moment [from my career]. As a matter of fact, when I look back I sometimes don’t find it very funny,’ he said.
Sir Billy keeps an eye on Scottish news on TV ‘to see how they’re doing’. He added that he and Nicola Sturgeon are friends – ‘although I’ve never been separatist and she’s sad about that’. Reflecting on his eventual demise, the comedian said he wanted his ashes to be divided between the Clyde and Loch Lomond. Although he was raised as a Catholic, Sir Billy said: ‘I think you go to the same place you were before you were born. Nowhere.’
Billy Connolly: It’s Been a Pleasure is on ITV tonight at 9.30pm and on STV at the same time on Hogmanay.