{"id":575876,"date":"2026-03-31T07:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/575876\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T07:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:48:14","slug":"juno-awards-2026-joni-mitchell-reflects-on-health-issues-in-lifetime-achievement-award-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/575876\/","title":{"rendered":"Juno Awards 2026: Joni Mitchell reflects on health issues in Lifetime Achievement Award speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

She nearly lost the ability to walk, talk and play music \u2013 but Joni Mitchell<\/a> says it changed her life for the better.<\/p>\n

At the 2026 Juno Awards, often referred to as the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys, the musician was honoured<\/a> with a Lifetime Achievement Award.<\/p>\n

Taking the stage to a standing ovation, the 82-year-old accepted the award from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney<\/a>, before reflecting on the brain aneurysm<\/a> that forced her to relearn basic skills from scratch.<\/p>\n

Watch the video above.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"HAMILTON,Mitchell has has long been recognised as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century – and now has an award to prove it. (Getty)<\/p>\n

“I want to thank the Junos for this great honour. I really appreciate it. I’m so glad to be back in Canada,” the singer, who grew up in Saskatoon, said.<\/p>\n

“Some years ago \u2013 10 or 12 years ago, I forget how long ago \u2013 I had an aneurysm, which changed my life, oddly, for the better.”<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Home and Away star opens up about cancer battle<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"HAMILTON,In 2020, she told The Guardian that being a \u201cfighter\u201d with \u201cIrish blood\u201d had helped her stay strong. (Getty)<\/p>\n

Mitchell experienced a coma after the aneurysm, but it brought a lot of change to her life. It put an end to her smoking, and in her speech, she spoke about how the nurses and therapists who cared for her have become an important part of her daily life.<\/p>\n

“My home’s filled up with the most wonderful nurses. I was on the road with men for years and years and years, now I live with a house full of women, and I have a fantastic therapist [who] goes everywhere with me,” she said.<\/p>\n

“So my life has changed for the better out of a catastrophe, like a phoenix who grows a better life.”<\/p>\n

\"JoniThe aneurysm kept her out of the spotlight for years as she relearned how to walk, talk, and play guitar. (Universal Photo)<\/p>\n

\ufeffFor a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During her speech, Mitchell turned to Carney with a pointed aside that drew a reaction from the room.<\/p>\n

“We are so fortunate to have him,” she said. “I’m living in the States, and you know what’s happening there.”<\/p>\n

Mitchell has long woven political commentary into her music, and in recent years<\/a>, she’s become even more outspoken, openly criticising Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Though she didn’t linger on politics, instead, she shifted the mood by pointing out her dress \u2013 printed with the word “happy” in Chinese \u2013 and explained she was “happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy” to be there alongside him.<\/p>\n

\"HAMILTON,Joni took the stage with Sarah McLachlan and Allison Russell during their tribute medley to perform Big Yellow Taxi. (Getty)<\/p>\n

As the night continued, attention returned to her music.<\/p>\n

Sarah McLachlan began the tribute with A Case of You, followed by Allison Russell joining in for Both Sides Now.<\/p>\n

The performances built to Mitchell’s own return to the stage, where she closed the night with an iconic rendition of Big Yellow Taxi.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She nearly lost the ability to walk, talk and play music \u2013 but Joni Mitchell says it changed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-575876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}