The iconic Scots comic had his world turned upside down in 2013 when doctors diagnosed him with prostate cancer - which he got the all-clear from - and Parkinson's on the same day.
Billy Connolly has made a devastating admission about death amid his Parkinson's battle as he stars in a new BBC show. In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, the Big Yin has revealed how he has seen the funny side of death, after coming to terms with his ongoing battle against Parkinson's disease.
"You just confront it and make decisions based on it. You just have to think ‘Don't think you are being badly treated or you have the bad pick of the straws. You are one of millions. Just behave yourself and relax. "It was a lovely time in my life working with genuinely funny men. I was a welder and we were known as The Erection Squad. How is that for a title?
In the new documentary, Billy tells how comedy saved his life after being abused by his aunties after being abandoned by his mother Mary aged just four. During his impoverished childhood in a Glasgow tenement, he and his older sister Florence were forced to sleep in a recess off the kitchen and bathed in the kitchen sink because there was no hot water.
Comedy changed his life but many long nights on the stand-up circuit also left him turning to booze. He says: "I was very successful but I was very naive and I was about to fall on my arse with alcohol. I was just about to blow it. I felt as if I could do anything. He reveals: "My life was a mess at the time. My wife and I were not getting along and it was all coming in on me. I was not sure what to do about it. Love is easy. It is everything else that is hard. Love is the easiest thing in the world.
Billy was saved thanks to fellow comic Pamela Stephenson whom he met after a brief appearance on her BBC sketch show Not The Nine O'Clock News alongside Mel Smith, Griff Rhys Jones and Rowan Atkinson. Billy said: "When I did Not The Nine ’Clock News they were all off their heads. Pamela was a huge star at the time.
Billy says he is the luckiest man in the world thanks to his rock Pamela and is proud he has not fallen off the wagon or become one of life's casualties. Despite his numerous awards over the years for a life in comedy, Billy says the top honour will always belong to the late American star Robin Williams, who once taught him that you don't have to be funny all of the time for people to like you.
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