The 'Hobbit' actor feels 'strange' knowing that he battles the degenerative disorder while 'everybody else is OK,' more than ten years following his diagnosis.
- Feb 11, 2024
AceShowbiz - Sir Billy Connolly feels "out of step" with the world amid his Parkinson's struggles. The 81-year-old comedian was diagnosed with the degenerative disorder more than a decade ago, and Billy is very conscious of its impact on his everyday life.
"Being unwell is strange. Everybody else is OK and you've got this thing that's wrong ... you're out of step," he explains on "Billy Connolly Does ..".
Billy has been teetotal for nearly 40 years after previously struggling with alcoholism. Despite this, the stand-up star admits that the threat of alcoholism has never gone away entirely.
He recalled, "I was in a hotel in Arran in the Clyde and I ordered porridge for my breakfast. I'd stopped drinking about a year before and was still missing it. The waitress said, 'Would you like porridge royale? how does that sound?' And I said that sounds pretty damn good from where I'm standing."
"So I was waiting for my porridge royale, wondering what it included, and when it came, I had a spoonful - and it was porridge made with whisky! I'll never forget it. Every nerve in my body went 'That's it! Ha, Now you're talking! Get it down you!' "
Billy - who now lives in Key West, Florida as he deals with the symptoms of Parkinson's disease - believes that his sobriety has actually changed how his body reacts to alcohol.
The comedy star - who has been married to Pamela Stephenson since 1989 - added, "When you give up drinking, your body goes on guard. So as soon as you taste it, your body goes 'Stop, nee-naw nee-naw.' I said to the waitress, you will have to get me some regular porridge."
