Sir Billy Connolly says he is not 'slipping away' after all

Sir Billy Connolly has reassured fans that he is doing well after hitting headlines last week with quotes about being “near the end.”

The Scottish comedian posted a video on his wife’s Twitter account showing him playing the banjo and seemingly backtracking from his own words featured in his emotional BBC2 series Billy Connolly: Made in Scotland.

In the second episode of the the two-part series, the 76-year-old insinuated that he was close to death. Connolly was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2013 and revealed the disease made him ‘angry’ and he was shown shaking uncontrollably in several scenes of the BBC2 documentary.

But now Connolly says things aren’t quite as bad as they may seem, and in a new Twitter video, he confirms that he is ‘not dying.’

Likely filmed outside his home in Key West, Florida, USA, the video is simply captioned: ‘Today.’ A healthier Connolly is shown laughing and says: “Not dying, not dead. Not slipping away. Sorry if I depressed you. Maybe I should have phrased it better.”

The video is published under his wife Pamela Stephenson’s account. Since being published on Saturday it has received over 2.5 million views and over 20,000 replies.

His chipper attitude in the video is in stark contrast to his words on Friday’s BBC2 episode. Reflecting on his life as a comedian as well as the effects of his life-altering health diagnosis, Connolly confessed that while he felt ‘near the end’ he saw death as ‘an adventure.’

“My life is slipping away and I can feel it, and I should, I’m 75. I’m near the end but it doesn’t frighten me. It’s an adventure, and it’s quite interesting to see myself slipping away. Bits slip off and leave me. Talents leave and attributes leave.

“I don’t have the balance I used to have; I don’t have the energy I used to have; I can’t hear the way I used to hear; I can’t see as good as I used to. I can’t remember the way I used to remember,” he said.

Fans will also surely be thrilled to see the comedian playing his banjo. A keen musician and songwriter, Connolly admitted on the documentary that he now struggled to play the instrument.

“I can’t work my left hand on the banjo. It’s as if I’m being prepared for something. Some other adventure. It’s just over the hill. I’ve got all the stuff to lose first. And then I will be on the shadowy side of the hill, doing the next episode in the spirit world,” he had said.

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