Billy Connolly reveals he can’t share a bed with wife Pamela as his Parkinson’s makes him sleep ‘like a wild animal’
SIR Billy Connolly has revealed he no longer shares a bed with his wife of 30 years Pamela Stephenson because his Parkinson's makes him "sleep like a wild animal."
The comedian, 76, praised his wife for being patient with him as his condition deteriorates.
Speaking to the , he said: "I sleep like a wild animal. Laughing and singing or having fights. Pamela has to sleep in another bed.
"So far, she has never tutted. And she’s a rather attractive nurse.”
Giving an insight into how the disease is robbing him of his faculties, he said: "One day my hearing went, then my balance went, my sight got worse.
“It feels as if everything is being taken away from you and you watch it go.”
The star was dealt a devastating blow when he was diagnosed with both prostate cancer and Parkinson's on the same day in 2013.
In a documentary filmed in 2018, Billy said: “There is no denying it, I am 75, I have got Parkinson’s and I am at the wrong end of the telescope of life. I am at the point where the yesteryears mean more than the yesterdays.
Later, he added: "My life, it’s slipping away and I can feel it and I should. I’m 75, I’m near the end. I’m a damn sight nearer the end than I am the beginning. But it doesn’t frighten me, it’s an adventure and it is quite interesting to see myself slipping away.
Meanwhile last month Billy revealed his son has been battling a drug and alcohol addiction."
The Scotsman, nicknamed The Big Yin, told how Jamie, 50, had a “problem” during a visit to recovering drug addicts.
He said his eldest child, from his first marriage to Iris Pressagh, has been to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings in West Virginia, US, to get help.
In ITV's Billy Connolly’s American Trail, Billy blasted the lack of understanding and compassion shown towards addicts.
He said: “My son has a problem and he’s in AA and NA.
“He told me when he went to the detox place some kids were being let out and they were back on the stuff before they got to the railway station. It’s so powerful.
“People who don’t know about it say, ‘Why do they take it, just say no. Just stop and you’ll be better.’ Duh. It’s extraordinary.”
Sir Billy has previously told of his love of going on fishing trips with Jamie, who he said worked in theatre prop departments.
He told workers and those getting treatment at the Southern West Virginia Fellowship Home: “You do grand work.”
The majority of people at the therapy centre were being treated for addiction to powerful opioid painkillers.
Sir Billy criticised those who speak of addicts “like they are losers and they are dying all over the place”. He added: “They never talk about this, about people pulling themselves up and getting on with it.”
The star, who quit drinking 35 years ago, said: “I know nothing about the whole drug thing. I’ve smoked a little dope but I’ve never been deeply involved in it.”
The three-part series saw him follow the route Scottish immigrants took in 18th century America.
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