Neil Diamond On Accepting His Parkinson’s Diagnosis: ‘Can’t Really Fight This Thing’

The iconic musician and performer Neil Diamond talked about his experience of living with Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative and incurable nervous system disorder affecting millions of people worldwide. Diamond, who is now 82 years old and was diagnosed with the disease in the year 2018, recently shared his thoughts on how he has been dealing with the condition.

Diamond admitted that he was initially in denial for the first year or two of his diagnosis. When the doctor told him that he had Parkinson’s disease, he was not ready to accept it. “Oh, Ok. I’ll see you whenever you wanna see me. But I have work to do, so I’ll see you later,” he said to the doctor. However, he has only recently accepted the reality of his condition in the last few weeks.

The “Sweet Caroline” composer discussed the process of coming to terms with his illness in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning. Diamond said that accepting his diagnosis has taken some time, and it has been a process. While he doesn’t like it, he has come to terms with the reality of his condition.

“I’m still doing it, and I don’t like it. This is the hand that God’s given me, and I have to make the best of it, and so I am,” he said. “There’s no cure, there’s no getting away from it. You can’t just say, ‘okay, enough already, let’s get back to life.’ It doesn’t work like that. But I’ve come to accept what limitations I have and still have great days.”

Despite the limitations of his condition, Diamond says that he still loves singing and can still perform. He feels good singing since it’s like all the systems in his mind and body work as one when he’s singing. “I still can sing,” he continued. “And it’s a great feeling.”

The legendary recording artist has slowed down his touring schedule but has not given it up yet. “I just have to take life as it comes to me, enjoy it, be thankful that I’ve had it, especially having the life that I’ve had,” he said.

Diamond’s career as a singer-songwriter began in the early 1960s, and he has sold over 130 million albums worldwide. Despite the challenges of his condition, he continues to embrace life as it comes to him and remains grateful for the time he has had.