billy My illness is taking me over
FRAIL BIG YIN REVEALS BATTLE WITH ILLNESS
Stars hail comedy legend Connolly in moving TV tribute Billy Connolly has revealed how being on stage offers his only respite from his increasingly tough battle with Parkinson’s.
The 74- year- old comedy legend looked frail as he told of his f ight in ITV documentary Billy Connolly & Me: A Celebration, which will be broadcast on Tuesday.
He was diagnosed with the devastating illness three- and- a- half years ago and now shakes uncontrollably down the left side of his body.
Laying bare his battle with the condition, the Big Yin said: “I’ve got Parkinson’s disease … and I wish to f*** he’d kept it to himself.
“When I’m in front of people and performing, I don’t give it much attention.
“And I perform in spite of it. That’s why I put on the song A Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On – just to stick two fingers up to it.
“The only time it stops is when I’m in bed and then I can’t roll over. I’m like a big log. It’s the first thing I think about in the morning because getting out of bed is quite hard. “It’s a weird thing because it stopped me playing the banjo and it stopped me smoking cigars.
“It seems to creep up on everything I like and take it away from me. It’s like being tested: ‘Cope with that, cope with life without your banjo. Now I’m going to make your hand shake so you can’t tie your fishing flies any more’.
“It’s weird. I’m trying to stay on the light side because the dark side is unthinkable.”
The former shipyard worker admitted his condition makes him short-tempered with his wife Pamela Stephenson.
He added: “I apologised to Pam yesterday. I said, ‘I’ve been a bit gruff.’ She said, ‘Oh, you’re OK’. I just get fed up.”
The ITV documentary celebrates Connolly’s 50 years in showbiz – with an array of stars paying tribute to his work.
Andy Murray said: “I used to listen to Billy Connolly CDs when I was a kid, normally when I was travelling to tennis tournaments up and down the country with my brother and my mum. Thanks for the laughs.”
Fellow funnyman Eric Idle added: “I was on holiday once with Robin Williams and we went on what we called The Big Jobby tour because Billy had done this long story about the big jobby.
“We found it so hilarious – we just made ourselves laugh and Robin loved him.”
Billy Connolly & Me: A Celebration is on Tuesday at 9pm on ITV.