The 72-year-old comedian, Billy Connolly is battling Parkinson’s and cancer, has left a series of beautiful letters for his grandchildren to read after he dies.
He said he had been penning letters to his grandchildren ‘long before they could read’. He said he wanted to share his love with his grand children Walter, 14, and Barbara, 12, whose mother is Connolly’s daughter from his first marriage.
He said ‘I still write with a fountain pen. I’ve been writing to my grandchildren since they were born, long before they could read.’ He added ‘They haven’t read the letters yet. They probably won’t read them until I’m dead. But I was saying to my daughter maybe they won’t be able to read cursive with the ways things are going.’
Pamela Stephenson, Connolly, second wife. They both has won the custody of his children Cara and Jamie in 1983 and had three other children – Scarlett, Amy and Daisy.
He revealed about his illness in a US interview he said: ‘There’s something great about being on the road. You get to the point where you admit that’s what you do for a living, that’s your job.
He went on to admit that his schedule can be tiring, adding:’ I didn’t realise trains made you tired. ‘You spend the whole time keeping your balance. When you’re sleeping you roll around like a baby in swaddling clothes. It’s kind of weird, you wake up tired.’ ‘I don’t fancy sitting in a church hall in a Wednesday night talking about it. ‘The thing is, it’s there so I might as well talk about it. I like to get it out of the way early because it’s kind of obvious, I think’ Connolly should not play his beloved banjo because of his Parkinson’s but said he would never stop performing.