Neil Diamond Has Only Started Processing His Parkinson’s Diagnosis ‘in the Last Few Weeks’

Celebrities visit Broadway – December 2022 – Credit: Bruce Glikas/WireImage/Getty Images

Neil Diamond is he just about accepts his Parkinson’s diagnosis. The 82-year-old singer-songwriter first announced his diagnosis and that he would be retiring from touring in 2018. But in a new interview with CBS Sunday morning, which will air this weekend, Diamond admitted he’d spent the two years after his doctor informed him of his diagnosis in outright denial.

Diamond said he’s only started to come to terms with having Parkinson’s “in the last few weeks.”

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“Somehow calm has set in [into] the hurricane of my life,” he said, “and it’s gotten very quiet, as quiet as this recording studio. And I like it. I find that I like myself better. I’m easier on people. I’m lighter on myself. And the beat goes on, and it will go on long after I’m gone.” The artist said he’s learning “to make the most of it.”

In the interview, Diamond also commented on A Beautiful Noise, the Broadway play about his life. “It was all pretty hard,” he said of how he feels when he sees how actor Will Swenson portrays him. “I was a little embarrassed. I was flattered, and I was scared.” What scares him, he said, is “being discovered … because we all have a facade and the truth is known to everyone. I’m not a big star. I am simply myself.”

In 2018, Diamond canceled the Australian and New Zealand tour dates he had planned for his 50th anniversary tour and immediately withdrew. “It is with great reluctance and disappointment that I announce my retirement from the concert tour,” Diamond said in a statement at the time. “I’m so honored to be bringing my shows to the public for the past 50 years. My sincere apologies to everyone who purchased tickets and are planning to come to the upcoming shows.”

Diamond has performed infrequently since then, singing “Sweet Caroline” at a Red Sox game last year and joining the cast of Beautiful Noise for a performance of the song in December.

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