The singer of You\u2019re So Vain has shared a lengthy health update with fans, revealing two heartbreaking diagnoses.<\/p>\n
Carly Simon, 83, shared the seven-page statement on Tuesday morning with her 207,000 Instagram followers.<\/p>\n
The purple text over a swirly purple background started with her saying many people had contacted her asking about her \u201crelative silence\u201d.<\/p>\n
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By continuing you agree to our Terms<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Her last public appearance was in 2019, when she was promoting her memoir, Touched by the Sun: My Friendship with Jackie, which delved into her relationship with JFK\u2019s wife Jackie Kennedy Onassis.<\/p>\n \u201cSo many people have written to me, kindly wondering about my relative silence, asking how I am and what I have been doing,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cThe truth is, I\u2019ve been learning how to live with Parkinson\u2019s Disease.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has taken me some time to understand the diagnosis, how to adjust to it, and decide how much I wanted to say about it publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n Simon has won two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe, and is best known for her songs You\u2019re So Vain, Let the River Run, and Nobody Does it Better.<\/p>\n She said that while the diagnosis was difficult for her, it was \u201cdifferent for everyone\u201d.<\/p>\n For Simon, it means that some days are better than others.<\/p>\n \u201cSome days I\u2019m so tired I can\u2019t get the day moving at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cOn others, it gives me a little more room to move, think, work, and feel like myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Parkinson\u2019s Disease affects more than 10 million people across the globe, with over 150,000 living with the disease in Australia.<\/p>\n Simon, who lives on Martha\u2019s Vineyard, wrote that the problems began with arthritis in both knees and one hip, which led to replacements of all three.<\/p>\n She described those operations as, \u201cOut with the old and in with delicate bouquets of metal and plastic\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter three replacement surgeries, I assumed my difficulty walking was simply an unfortunate and rather ironic part of the recovery process,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cBut my mobility continued to worsen.<\/p>\n The Grammy Award winner said she had difficulty getting up from low seats, and eventually \u201ccould not walk without considerable help\u201d, which is when she and her family knew \u201cthat something more was going on\u201d.<\/p>\n After an \u201cextensive evaluation\u201d, she received her Parkinson\u2019s Disease diagnosis and began treatment, which included medication for stiffness.<\/p>\n While her movement and balance had been affected, she said she had also experienced anxiety, depression, exhaustion, and apathy alongside her tremors.<\/p>\n But it has not just been Parkinson\u2019s Disease that Simon has been battling.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring this same period, I was also treated for basal cell carcinoma on my face,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cancer was removed, but the surgery affected my appearance and made me more self-conscious about being seen in public.\u201d<\/p>\n After making a joke about the irony of having written You\u2019re So Vain, she said that music had been a great help during her \u201chibernation\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cBetween my mobility issues, the Parkinson\u2019s diagnosis, the surgery, and the emotional effects of it all, withdrawing from public view was the only palatable reaction… But I have not stopped living, and I have not stopped working.\u201d<\/p>\n Simon revealed she had begun recording a new album, Comes in Waves, which she described as cathartic.<\/p>\n The new, full-length album will be her first since 2008.<\/p>\n \u201cMusic has always known when to arrive,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has rescued me more times than I can count.\u201d<\/p>\n Simon said that her diagnosis of Parkinson\u2019s Disease was \u201cdifficult, frustrating, and sometimes frightening\u201d and that she was still learning how to live with it, adding that she was grateful for her family, friends, and medical professionals for their support.<\/p>\n \u201cThese 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,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I am still very much here.\u201d<\/p>\n Simon signed off the message with, \u201cWith love, Carly\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The singer of You\u2019re So Vain has shared a lengthy health update with fans, revealing two heartbreaking 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