Carly Simon shared exactly how her Parkinson’s disease “problems began” in her vulnerable announcement Monday.
The “You’re So Vain” hitmaker told Page Six in a statement that her first symptom was “arthritis in both knees and one hip.”
She explained, “I eventually had all three joints replaced, out with the old and in with delicate bouquets of metal and plastic. After three replacement surgeries, I assumed my difficulty walking was simply an unfortunate and rather ironic part of the recovery process.”
However, the singer’s “mobility continued to worsen.”
The 83-year-old wrote, “I had trouble standing up from low chairs and deep couches without someone offering me an arm. Overstuffed furniture became my enemy.
“Once seated, I could feel as though I had been swallowed by the chair and might remain there permanently, like a guest who had badly overstayed her welcome.”
Simon “eventually” needed “considerable help” to walk — and was diagnosed with the progressive brain disorder, which affects movement and balance, “after an extensive evaluation.”
She has since started “taking medication to help with stiffness and other symptoms.”
While giving the health update in a lengthy statement Monday, Simon also shared her skin cancer struggles.
“During this same period, I was also treated for basal cell carcinoma on my face,” she wrote. “The cancer was removed, but the surgery affected my appearance.”
This led Simon to “withdraw from public view,” with the Grammy winner dubbing herself an “all-season bear” in hibernation.
She worked on new music instead — and will release “Comes in Waves,” her first full-length album since 2008, in August.
The musician clarified that she is “still writing, singing, imagining, laughing, worrying, remembering, and occasionally getting trapped in an overstuffed chair.”
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 has two children — daughter Sally, 52, and son Ben, 49 — with ex-husband James Taylor.
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