Carly Simon Details Cancer, Parkinson’s Disease Diagnoses

“Eventually, there were periods when I could not walk without considerable help,” she 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.”

Noting that the loss of movement has been “one of the hardest things to explain,” Simon shared that around the same time, she also discovered she had basal cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer on her face.

“The cancer was removed, but the surgery affected my appearance and made me more self-conscious about being seen in public,” the “You’re So Vain” singer noted. “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.”

“Between my mobility issues, the Parkinson’s diagnosis, the surgery, and the emotional effects of it all, withdrawing from public view was the most palatable reaction,” Simon explained. “If a person is allowed to hibernate during both winter and summer, then I have become an all-season bear.”

However, Simon—whose upcoming album will mark her first set of original songs in 18 years—has “not stopped living.”