After years largely outside the public eye, Carly Simon is explaining what has been happening behind the scenes.

The 83-year-old music legend revealed that she has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and also underwent surgery for basal cell carcinoma on her face. In a July 27 statement, Simon described a difficult period involving worsening mobility, cancer treatment and emotional challenges, while making clear that she continues to create music.

“So many people have written to me, kindly wondering about my relative silence, asking how I am and what I have been doing,” Simon said. “The truth is, I’ve been learning how to live with Parkinson’s disease.”

The “You’re So Vain” singer explained that her mobility problems initially seemed connected to arthritis. After undergoing replacements of both knees and one hip, she assumed difficulty walking was part of recovering from the procedures.

Instead, her condition continued to deteriorate. Simon struggled to stand from low furniture and eventually experienced periods when walking required significant assistance. An extensive evaluation at the Mayo Clinic ultimately led to her Parkinson’s diagnosis.

Simon has since begun treatment, including medication for stiffness and other symptoms, but said the disease can affect each day differently.

“Some days I’m so tired I can’t get the day moving at all,” she explained. “On others, it gives me a little more room to move, think, work, and feel like myself.”

The Grammy winner also described symptoms beyond the movement problems commonly associated with Parkinson’s. For Simon, exhaustion, anxiety, depression and particularly apathy have presented additional challenges.

During the same period, Simon was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on her face. Although the cancer was removed surgically, she said changes to her appearance contributed to her decision to retreat further from public life.

“I have always been more critical of my appearance than anyone else could possibly imagine (check out the irony of having written ‘You’re So Vain.’), and this gave my inner critic quite a lot of new material,” she joked.

Despite those health struggles, Simon emphasized that she hasn’t stopped working. In fact, she has been creating Comes in Waves, her first full-length album of original material since 2008.

“Music has always known when to arrive,” she said. “It has rescued me more times than I can count.”

Working on the album provided purpose during days disrupted by her illness, Simon explained, and helped reinforce something she does not want her diagnosis to overshadow.

“It reminded me that illness can change your life without becoming the whole of your life.”

Simon has faced cancer before. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 and survived the disease. Her latest health revelation comes several years after another devastating period for her family: sisters Joanna and Lucy Simon died from cancer one day apart in October 2022.

While Simon acknowledged that Parkinson’s has forced significant adjustments, she ended her message with reassurance for fans who have wondered how she was doing.

“These days I move more slowly, I lean on others more than I once did, and I have learned to accept that every day will look a little different,” she wrote. “But I am still very much here.”