Neil Diamond, 82, reflects on living with Parkinson's disease

2023-04-07

‘I can’t fight this – I have to accept it’: Neil Diamond, 82, reflects on living with Parkinson’s disease in emotional interview – five years after star revealed diagnosis and quit touring

Parkinson’s disease affects one in 500 people, including about one million Americans
It causes muscle stiffness, slowness of movement, tremors, sleep disturbance, chronic fatigue, an impaired quality of life and can lead to severe disability
It is a progressive neurological condition that destroys cells in the part of the brain that controls movement

Neil Diamond, 82, reflected on his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis and learning to live with the condition in an emotional new interview on Sunday.

The Sweet Caroline singer, who revealed his diagnosis with the neurological condition in 2018 and subsequently quit touring, admitted that he is still in the process of navigating his life with the disease.

‘I’m still doing it. And I don’t like it,’ he explained on CBS Sunday Morning. ‘OK, so this is the hand that God’s given me, and I have to make the best of it, and so I am.’

The I Am I Said crooner first revealed his condition in 2018, though he was diagnosed more than a decade ago and said of that time that he was ‘in denial’ and ‘not ready to accept it.’

‘I was in denial for the first year or two. When the doctor told me what it was, I was just not ready to accept it,’ he admitted. ‘I said, “Oh, OK. I’ll see you, you know, whenever you wanna see me. But I have work to do, so I’ll see you later.”‘

Diagnosis: Neil Diamond, 82, reflected on his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis and learning to live with the condition in an emotional new interview on Sunday (pictured 2020)

Despite knowing he’s had the disease for many years, the Forever in Blue Jeans singer said he’s only started truly accepting it over the past few weeks.

‘I can’t really fight this thing, so I had to accept it, this Parkinson’s disease,’ he said. ‘There’s no cure. There’s no getting away from it.’

‘You can’t just say, “OK, enough already. Let’s get back to life.” It doesn’t work like that,’ he said.

‘But I’ve come to accept what limitations I have, and still have great days,’ the Hello Again singer admitted.

Since his acceptance, he said, ‘a calm has moved into the hurricane of my life, and things have gotten very quiet, as quiet as this recording studio.’

‘I find that I like myself better,’ he continued. ‘I’m easier on people, I’m easier on myself. And the beat goes on, and it will go on long after I’m gone.’

The Song Sung Blue singer is celebrating the fact that he can still sing and he hasn’t totally given up on the idea of touring again someday – even if its in a limited way.

‘I just have to take life as it comes to me, enjoy it, be thankful that I’ve had it, especially having the life that I’ve had,’ he said.

Music icon: The Sweet Caroline singer, who revealed his diagnosis with the neurological condition in 2018 and subsequently quit touring, admitted that he is still in the process of navigating his life with the disease (pictured 2009)

Parkinson’s disease is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world and there is currently no cure.

It causes muscle stiffness, slowness of movement, tremors, sleep disturbance, chronic fatigue, an impaired quality of life and can lead to severe disability.

It is a progressive neurological condition that destroys cells in the part of the brain that controls movement.

Sufferers are known to have diminished supplies of dopamine because nerve cells that make it have died.

Around 18,000 Brits and 90,000 Americans are diagnosed every year, with charities estimating that one in 37 people alive today will be diagnosed in their lifetime.

Celebrities who have battled the condition include Michael J. Fox, Muhammad Ali, Billy Connolly, Alan Alda, George H.W. Bush and Ozzy Osbourne.

Fox was diagnosed with the degenerative disease at the young age of 29 in 1991 and hid the disease for seven years by carrying props in his left hand, where the telltale shakiness first started.

Facts: Parkinson’s disease is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world and there is currently no cure – Diamond is pictured in 2017

Last month, the Back to the Future, star, 61, opened up about living with Parkinson’s for more than three decades during a Q&A after he and his wife Tracy Pollan screened their documentary STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie at the SXSW Conference.

‘A festival of self-abuse,’ the Back to the Future star joked about his film. ‘You get Parkinson’s, you trip over stuff.’

‘Parkinson’s sucks, but it’s a great life, so thank you for it,’ he added. ‘Pity is a benign form of abuse. I can feel sorry for myself, but I don’t have time for that. There is stuff to be learned from this, so let’s do that and move on.’

‘My fans have basically given me my life. I wanted to give these people who have done so much for me my time and gratitude. It was great for me to hear from all of you,’ he concluded.

WHAT IS PARKINSON’S?

Parkinson’s disease affects one in 500 people, including about one million Americans.

It causes muscle stiffness, slowness of movement, tremors, sleep disturbance, chronic fatigue, an impaired quality of life and can lead to severe disability.

It is a progressive neurological condition that destroys cells in the part of the brain that controls movement.

Sufferers are known to have diminished supplies of dopamine because nerve cells that make it have died.

There is currently no cure and no way of stopping the progression of the disease, but hundreds of scientific trials are underway to try and change that.

The disease claimed the life of boxing legend Muhammad Ali in 2016.

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