Carly Simon has revealed she is living with Parkinson’s disease and recently underwent surgery for basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer.
The 83-year-old “You’re So Vain” singer told People magazine in a statement published July 27 that her health struggles are the reason she has largely stayed out of public view.
“It has taken me some time to understand the diagnosis, to adjust to it, and to decide how much I wanted to say about it publicly,” the 83-year-old told the outlet. “Parkinson’s is different for everyone, and it can be unpredictable. Some days I’m so tired I can’t get the day moving at all. On others, it gives me a little more room to move, think, work and feel like myself.”
Simon said her health problems began with arthritis in both knees and one hip.
“The problems began with arthritis in both knees and one hip,” the star shared. “I eventually had all three joints replaced, out with the old and in with delicate bouquets of metal and plastic. After three replacement surgeries, I assumed my difficulty walking was simply an unfortunate and rather ironic part of the recovery process.”
But her mobility kept getting worse.
She struggled to stand up from “low chairs and deep couches” without help.
“Overstuffed furniture became my enemy,” she recalled.
At times, Simon said she could not walk “without considerable help.”
She eventually underwent an extensive evaluation at the Mayo Clinic, where doctors diagnosed her with Parkinson’s disease.
She soon began treatment to manage stiffness and other symptoms.
“Parkinson’s is usually associated with movement, tremors and balance, but it can affect much more than the body,” Simon explained.
“It can bring anxiety, depression, exhaustion and apathy. The apathy is particularly strange. You can find yourself lying there like a starfish drying in the sun, arms pointing in all directions, while nothing inside is telling you to get up, read, watch, write, sing, call someone or do much of anything at all. … It is not simply sadness or laziness. It is as though the part of the brain that sends out invitations to participate in life has temporarily misplaced the guest list.”
During that same period, Simon was also treated for basal cell carcinoma on her face.
Grammy-winning singer Carly Simon has revealed she has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. pic.twitter.com/MoOTmw32V1
— Good Morning America (@GMA) July 27, 2026
Surgeons removed the skin cancer, but the procedure left her self-conscious about her appearance and reluctant to be seen publicly.
“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,” Simon wrote.
“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 said. “If a person is allowed to hibernate during both winter and summer, then I have become an all-season bear.”
Simon made clear that illness has not ended her life or her work.
She has quietly been working on a new album, “Comes in Waves,” and said music has remained one of the things pulling her forward.
“I have not stopped living, and I have not stopped working.”
“Working on the music gave shape to days that did not always have much shape,” Simon said. “… It reminded me that illness can change your life without becoming the whole of your life.”
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“I do not consider Parkinson’s a gift or a blessing,” she said. “It is neither. It is difficult, frustrating and sometimes frightening. I am still learning how to live with it and now how to accept it without feeling that I have surrendered something essential. I am still writing, singing, imagining, laughing, worrying, remembering and occasionally getting trapped in an overstuffed chair.”
Simon also thanked the people who have helped her through the diagnosis and treatment.
“I am deeply grateful to my children, my family, my friends, my caregivers and the medical professionals who have helped me through this,” Simon said. “Their love and patience have carried me through days when my own reserves were not enough. I wanted to share this now because so many people have reached out with genuine concern. I am touched by that concern, even when I have not known how to respond.”
“These 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. But I am still very much here.”
People reported that “Comes in Waves” is Simon’s first full-length album since 2008.
Carly Simon, 83
The singer, who lives on Martha’s Vineyard, made one of her last public appearances in 2019 when she visited SiriusXM Studios in New York City to promote her memoir, “Touched by the Sun: My Friendship with Jackie.”
The book chronicled her close friendship with former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
People reported that Simon’s last public performance was in March 2018 at the 31st Annual Tibet House U.S. Benefit Concert & Gala at Carnegie Hall.
Simon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November 2022, but she did not attend the ceremony in Los Angeles.
The event came weeks after her sisters, Joanna and Lucy Simon, died of cancer one day apart.
Simon also survived breast cancer after being diagnosed in 1997.
Parkinson’s disease is a nervous system disorder that affects movement, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Symptoms can include tremors, balance problems, stiffness, slowed movement and slurred speech.
There is no cure, but medications and sometimes surgery can help manage symptoms.
Michael J. Fox, diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991, became one of the most famous public faces of the disease and later founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
Simon rose to fame with her 1971 self-titled debut album and became one of the defining singer-songwriters of her generation.
Her 1972 smash “You’re So Vain” remains one of the most recognizable pop songs in American music history.
She also recorded the James Bond theme “Nobody Does It Better” for the 1977 film “The Spy Who Loved Me,” starring Roger Moore as 007.
Simon’s announcement is a painful update from an artist who helped define an era when music still had melody, personality and staying power.
She is not pretending the diagnosis is inspirational branding or Hollywood spin.
She called it difficult, frustrating and sometimes frightening.
But she is still writing.
She is still singing.
And in her own words, she is still very much here.
