Neil Diamond’s life now – tough health battle, marriage promise and years of therapy
Sweet Caroline singer Neil Diamond, 83, has enjoyed a glittering career spanning seven decades – but it’s not been without struggle. With BBC2 celebrating his career tonight, we take a look at his life now
With BBC2 dedicating a night to the music legend, a Grammy award-winning member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame no less, we take a look at Neil’s life today…
Health battles
The star was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2018, scuppering the Australian leg of his 50th anniversary tour. He went onto quit concert touring altogether, telling fans: “It is with great reluctance and disappointment that I announce my retirement… I have been so honoured to bring my shows to the public for the past 50 years. ‘This ride has been ‘so good, so good, so good’ thanks to you.”
In an interview on CBS Sunday Morning last year, Neil told how it had taken him a year or two to come to terms with his diagnosis of the incurable brain condition, which causes shaking, slow movements and stiffness. “When the doctor told me what it was, I was just not ready to accept it,” he said, “I said: ‘Oh, OK, I’ll see you whenever you want to see me, but I have work to do, so I’ll see you later’.”
After admitting he was ‘in denial’ over his diagnosis, the icon said that accepting the progressive disorder has brought in a sense of calm to his life. He told CBS: “Somehow, a calm has moved in and the hurricane of my life and things have gotten very quiet.”
This isn’t his first serious health battle – back in 1979 the singer-songwriter had back surgery to remove a benign tumour on his spinal cord. The operation lasted nine hours and he wrote goodbye letters to his loved ones, convinced he was going to die.
Third marriage
Neil is married to music manager Katie McNeil, falling for his third wife when she was 42 and him 71. The star says it was strictly business when they first began working together. “There was nothing,” he told Mail Online. “She was just another business person handing me work to do and another business person I was trying to get away from. I stopped trying to get away after a year or so, once I got to know the person she was, and I liked that person very much.