Carly Simon says her recent quiet stretch has a medical backstory. The 83-year-old singer revealed she has Parkinson's disease and has also undergone surgery for basal cell carcinoma on her face, explaining in a statement that she's been "learning how to live" with the neurological disorder as it affects her mobility, mood, and daily life. Her statement, obtained by People, goes thusly:
- "So many people have written to me, kindly wondering about my relative silence, asking how I am and what I have been doing. The truth is, I've been learning how to live with Parkinson's disease. It has taken me some time to understand the diagnosis, to adjust to it, and to decide how much I wanted to say about it publicly. Parkinson's is different for everyone, and it can be unpredictable."
Some days, she writes, she's too exhausted to get going; on others, she feels closer to herself. It's not clear when Simon was diagnosed, notes the New York Times. The health issues, combined with self-consciousness about the cancer surgery, pushed the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer further from public view. But Simon stressed she's still writing and recording: a new album, Comes in Waves, her first of original material since 2008, is on the way. "Illness can change your life without becoming the whole of your life," she notes. (Michael J. Fox recently reflected on living with Parkinson's for the past 35 years.)
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