GREAT SCOT!
‘NOT DEAD, NOT DYING’ – BILLY CONNOLLY QUASHES A MORBID RUMOUR
Don’t worry, Billy’s okay
Sir Billy Connolly fans, don’t panic – the beloved Scottish comedian isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Billy, who has been candid about his struggles with Parkinson’s disease, sparked fear in the
New Year when he spoke in a documentary of being “near the end”.
“My life, it’s slipping away, and I can feel it and I should,” he said. “I’m 75, I’m near the end. I’m a damn sight nearer the end than I am the beginning. But it doesn’t frighten me. It’s an adventure and it is quite interesting to see myself slipping away.”
Fans took his comments to mean he was losing his battle with the cruel disease, resulting in panic and premature tributes for the star.
However, Billy has allayed fears of his demise, appearing in a video posted to his New Zealand-born wife Pamela Stephenson’s Twitter account to reassure the world that he is, in fact, still alive and kicking.
In the clip, which features Billy playing the banjo, the star brightly addresses the camera, saying, “Not dying, not dead, not slipping away. Sorry if I depressed you. Maybe I should have phrased it better.”
Billy was diagnosed with the condition in 2013, while undergoing surgery for prostate cancer. He’s had to cut back on performing as he’s found it increasingly hard to keep up his signature energetic stage presence, but the star is determinedly carrying on as best he can. He’s even given up drinking, instead opting for a good old cup of tea.
“I enjoyed drinking, but it’s a thing of the past,” he says. “It was lovely when I was doing it, and then the fun went away and then I stopped. But tea is the best substance in the world. I love tea. It makes me feel good – it makes me feel jolly.”
And he’s as loved as ever, with a petition launched last week to rename Glasgow Airport after the city’s most famous son, whose Scots nickname is The Big Yin, meaning “the big one”.
“[He] should be honoured before it’s too late,” the petition says. “[He’s] an all-time Scottish legend who deserves to be recognised and, let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to fly into ‘The Big Yin’?”