Carly Simon has said she has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, describing the condition as difficult, unpredictable and “sometimes frightening” while confirming that she is continuing to work.
The 83-year-old American singer-songwriter, one of the defining pop voices of the 1970s and 1980s, disclosed the diagnosis in a statement supplied to the BBC. Simon said she was “learning how to live” with the progressive neurological condition, which can affect movement, muscle control and other functions of the nervous system.
“Some days I’m so tired I can’t get the day moving at all,” she said. “On others, it gives me a little more room to move, think, work, and feel like myself.”
Simon, whose best-known songs include You’re So Vain, Nobody Does It Better, Why and Coming Around Again, said the diagnosis had not brought her life or career to a halt. “But I have not stopped living, and I have not stopped working,” she said.
The musician said her health difficulties initially appeared to be linked to arthritis in both knees and one hip. She underwent three replacement operations, but her mobility did not improve as expected. Simon said she began to struggle with ordinary physical tasks, including getting up from low chairs and sofas without assistance.
She said there were eventually periods when she could not walk without considerable help. After further assessment at the Mayo Clinic, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s is a progressive condition associated with the loss of nerve cells in parts of the brain that help control movement. Symptoms can vary widely and may include tremor, stiffness, slowness of movement and balance problems. The condition can also be linked with non-motor symptoms, including mood changes and fatigue. According to Parkinson’s UK, about 153,000 people in the UK are living with the condition.
Simon said she has been receiving treatment and medication, but also described the emotional and psychological effects of the illness. She said anxiety, depression and apathy had been part of her experience.
“The apathy is particularly strange,” she said, adding that it was not simply sadness or laziness but a loss of the inner prompt to take part in daily life. She described it as one of the most difficult aspects to explain to others.
Simon also revealed that she recently had surgery to remove a cancerous growth from her face, saying the procedure had affected her appearance and made her more self-conscious about being seen publicly. She reflected on the irony of those feelings given her authorship of You’re So Vain, one of the most recognisable songs in her catalogue.
The singer said she decided to speak publicly after receiving letters from people asking about her relative silence and wondering how she was. Her statement comes as she continues to release music. A new album, Comes In Waves, is scheduled for release in August 2026, and its first single, Howl, has already been issued.
A press release for the album said the record would return to themes long associated with Simon’s songwriting, including love, memory, family, self-examination and forgiveness. The new material places her current work alongside a career that has spanned more than five decades.
Simon emerged as one of the leading singer-songwriters of her generation with piano-led pop songs, emotionally direct lyrics and detailed character portraits. You’re So Vain became her signature hit and has remained a subject of public interest for decades. She later confirmed that Warren Beatty was one of the men who inspired the song, while the full identity of its other subjects has remained largely guarded.
Her wider catalogue includes the James Bond theme Nobody Does It Better, written for The Spy Who Loved Me, as well as Anticipation, Legend In Your Own Time and Coming Around Again. Her recordings have also continued to circulate through later generations of popular music, including through sampling and reinterpretation by other artists.
In her statement, Simon said she did not regard Parkinson’s as “a gift or a blessing”. She called it “difficult, frustrating, and sometimes frightening”, while saying she was still trying to accept the condition without feeling that she had surrendered an essential part of herself.
Simon thanked her children, family, friends, caregivers and medical professionals for their support, saying their patience had helped her through difficult days. She said she now moves more slowly and depends on others more than she once did, while accepting that each day with the condition can be different.
