Stephenson brands Parkinson ‘a daft old fart’ over Connolly health claims

0 Pamela Stephenson Connolly said: ‘Billy’s doing great’ Sir Billy Connolly’s wife has attacked Sir Michael Parkinson for claiming the comedian was no longer able to recognise him due to failing health.

Pamela Stephenson Connolly labelled the former chat show host “a daft old fart” after he said her husband’s brain had been “dulled” amid his battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson, 83, described an “awkward dinner” he had with his close friend Connolly, who was diagnosed with the condition in 2013.

Mrs Connolly, 68, insisted the 75-year-old comic was “doing great” and said Parkinson didn’t know anything about the current state of his health.

Writing on Twitter, she said: “Mike Parkinson is a daft old fart – doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Billy’s doing great and still funny as hell.”

Connolly himself was said to have fired back with a one-liner, claiming: “I would recognise Parky if he was standing behind me – in a diving suit.”

His wife’s comments were earlier backed up by a statement from production company Indigo Television, which has made documentaries with Connolly and is working with him on a series in which he tours Scotland.

It said: “We have been busy filming with Billy over the summer and can report happily that he’s on top form – as sharp and hilarious as ever.”

On ITV’S Saturday Morning with James Martin, Parkinson said: “The sadness of Billy now is that wonderful brain is dulled.

“Isawhimrecently–he’snow living in America – and it was very sad, because I was presenting him with a prize at an award ceremony.

“We had an awkward dinner together, because I wasn’t quite sure if he knew who I was or not.”

He added: “To know someone as long as I knew and loved Billy, it was an awful thing to contemplate, that that had been taken from him in a sense.”

In 1975, although already famous in Scotland, Connolly became a star across the UK when he appeared on Parkinson’s show.

He said it “changed my entire life”.