Carly Simon revealed she is battling Parkinson’s disease and recently underwent surgery for skin cancer, the 83-year-old musician announced July 27, 2026, in a candid written statement that broke a long stretch of public silence.
The diagnosis of the progressive neurological disorder marks a difficult chapter for the artist best known for 1970s hits including “You’re So Vain,” which transformed a bitter romantic reckoning into one of pop music’s most enduring mysteries. Simon is now preparing to release “Comes in Waves,” her first original studio album since 2008.
Cancer Surgery Left Her Self-Conscious
Surgery to remove basal cell carcinoma from her face left visible changes that made her feel increasingly self-conscious, Simon disclosed. The procedure compounded the isolation she already felt from Parkinson’s symptoms. With characteristic self-deprecation, she acknowledged having always been her own harshest critic when it came to physical appearance.
Treatment for the common form of skin cancer altered her looks in ways that made public appearances feel more and more difficult, she said. The combination of mobility challenges and facial changes deepened her reluctance to be seen.
Symptoms That Arrive Without Warning
Simon described how the severity of Parkinson’s fluctuates unpredictably from one day to the next. On some mornings she wakes too exhausted to move or accomplish anything. On better days she can still think clearly, work on music and feel engaged with life.
The illness does not consult her schedule or ask permission before determining what her morning will bring, she wrote. Medication helps manage stiffness and other physical symptoms, but the disorder’s progression continues regardless of treatment.
According to the Mayo Clinic, Parkinson’s affects movement and has no cure. Its characteristic symptoms include tremors, stiffness, slowed motion, impaired balance and speech changes. Drugs can relieve some manifestations but cannot stop the underlying advance of the disease.
Simon’s statement took time to write because she needed to understand the condition herself first and decide how much to reveal. The letter’s tone—blunt, clinical and occasionally wry—reflected an artist determined to control her own narrative rather than delegate the announcement to publicists.
From Joint Replacements to a Mayo Clinic Evaluation
Simon did not specify when doctors gave her the diagnosis. She said her decline began with arthritis that required three joint replacements—both knees and one hip—but mobility problems continued to worsen afterward.
She struggled to rise from low seating without help and eventually could not walk at all without considerable assistance. Suspecting something more serious was causing her symptoms, she sought an extensive evaluation at the Mayo Clinic, where clinicians identified Parkinson’s as the culprit.
Beyond physical impairment, she explained, the disorder can bring anxiety, depression, crushing fatigue and apathy. That last symptom proved the hardest to describe. She compared the experience to remaining perfectly still like a stranded sea creature left on the beach, with no internal voice urging her to get up, read, sing or reach out to friends. The feeling is neither depression nor indolence, she wrote, but more like the part of the brain that to understand issues invitations to the world has temporarily lost its way.
A New Album and a Famous Advocate
Working on “Comes in Waves,” her first album in 18 years, gave structure to difficult days and offered a creative outlet she could pursue from home, Simon said. The project helped sustain her during a period when leaving the house felt increasingly daunting.
She noted that her diagnosis places her alongside several well-known figures managing Parkinson’s in the public eye, including Michael J. Fox, the “Back to the Future” star who has become a leading advocate for research and awareness.
Simon came to prominence in the 1970s as one of the decade’s defining voices, merging literary lyricism with unflinching emotional honesty. She has collected multiple Grammy Awards over the course of her career and also composed “Let the River Run.” In 2022 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She resides on Martha’s Vineyard and has two children—Sally, 52, and Ben, 49—with former husband James Taylor, the musician.
Simon refused to sugarcoat what lies ahead. She called Parkinson’s difficult, frustrating and sometimes frightening, and rejected any notion that the disease might be a gift in disguise. But she framed her disclosure not as a goodbye but as an honest account of where she stands now. She is still learning how to live with the disorder without feeling she has lost something fundamental—continuing to compose music, perform, daydream, find humor, experience concern, reflect on the past and, in her words, occasionally getting trapped in an overstuffed chair.
