Carly Simon Reveals Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis

Carly Simon has revealed she has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

The 83-year-old singer-songwriter, best known for her 1972 hit “You’re So Vain,” announced the news in a lengthy Instagram post on Monday. 

“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,” she said.

“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,” Simon added. “Parkinson’s is different for everyone, and it can be unpredictable. Some days I’m so tired I can’t get the day moving at all. On others, it gives me a little more room to move, think, work, and feel like myself.”

Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder that affects nerve cells in the brain and does not currently have a cure. The symptoms include tremors, stiffness, difficulty balancing, and slowness of movement. 

Simon revealed that she was diagnosed after her mobility continued to worsen following replacement surgeries on her knees and one hip.

“Eventually, there were periods when I could not walk without considerable help,” the Grammy winner continued. “My family and I knew that something more was going on. After an extensive evaluation at the Mayo Clinic, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.”

While Simon has been affected physically, she has also struggled with “anxiety, depression, exhaustion, and apathy” after her diagnosis. 

“That has been one of the hardest things to explain,” she said. “It is not simply sadness or laziness. It is as though the part of the brain that sends out invitations to participate in life has temporarily misplaced the guest list.”

In addition to Parkinson’s, Simon also revealed that she was previously diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, and underwent surgery for it amid her treatment for Parkinson’s.

“The cancer was removed, but the surgery affected my appearance and made me more self-conscious about being seen in public,” Simon said. “I have always been more critical of my appearance than anyone else could possibly imagine (check out the irony of having written ‘You’re So Vain’), and this gave my inner critic quite a lot of new material.”

The "Nobody Does It Better" singer has stayed out of the spotlight in recent years, with her last public performance being in March 2018. 

Despite her health struggles, Simon assured fans that she has “not stopped living” and “not stopped working.” In fact, she has written a new album, titled “Comes in Waves” — her first full-length effort since 2008 — which releases on August 14.

“Working on the music gave shape to days that did not always have much shape. It gave me somewhere to go without having to leave the room. It reminded me that illness can change your life without becoming the whole of your life,” Simon noted. 

She added, “I do not consider Parkinson’s a gift or a blessing. It is neither. It is difficult, frustrating, and sometimes frightening. I am still learning how to live with it and how to accept it without feeling that I have surrendered something essential.”

Simon concluded her statement by saying: “These days I move more slowly, I lean on others more than I once did, and I have learned to accept that every day will look a little different. But I am still very much here.”