Billy Connolly opens up about finding peace with his Parkinson’s diagnosis

Comedy legend Sir Billy Connolly has revealed that he has made peace with his Parkinson’s diagnosis as he reflects on his life and career.

Connolly, affectionately known as The Big Yin, first publicly shared his diagnosis in 2013. Since then, he has been open about his challenges living with the disease, which affects his ability to control movement.

In the upcoming BBC documentary, Billy Connolly: In My Own Words, the beloved comedian reflects on his journey and how he has learnt to embrace his condition. He candidly shares that he no longer fears the prospect of death, having found peace with his diagnosis and the inevitable realities that come with it.

“With something as big as that you just confront it and stick to the front of it. Be with it and make decisions based on it,” he said in the documentary, as per The Scottish Sun.

“And don’t think you have been badly treated and think you have got the bad pick of the straws. It’s not like that, you’re one of millions, just behave yourself, relax.

“You realise that death isn’t the big thing that everybody has made it out to be. It’s nothing, it’s a sudden nothing.”

In a previous interview with The Guardian, Connolly offered fans a candid glimpse into his life as he confronts this “cruel” adversary head-on, telling the publication that he has noticed “a deterioration” in his balance which has resulted in “a couple of serious falls”.

“It’s very difficult to see the progression exactly, because a lot of things come and go,” he said at the time.

“Recently I’ve noticed a deterioration in my balance. That was never such a problem before, but in the last year that has come and it has stayed.

“For some reason, I thought it would go away, because a lot of symptoms have come and gone away … just to defy the symptom spotters. The shaking has reappeared.”

While, by his own admission, Connolly has accepted his condition there are still challenges he faces day-to-day. However, he recently revealed that embracing his creative side has not only brought joy to his days but has also played a crucial role in coping with the challenges posed by the progressive neurodegenerative disorder.

“Art has made my life magical at a time when I thought it would be unbearable. My disease creeps up on me — every day it gets stranger and more different,” he revealed to The Times. 

“I don’t know how I would have coped without drawing. It’s taken me out of the scene and put me somewhere else, where I can survey it from a different angle.”