Billy Connolly might have been told he had both prostate cancer and Parkinson's disease less than a year ago, but the Scottish comedian's wife says he couldn't be doing better.
"He's sort of got through it all, touch wood, and his Parkinson's is very slow-moving," Pamela Stephenson-Connolly told AAP in Sydney on Monday.
"He's probably had it for 10 years, but he's got one of those forms that is very slowly advancing, it's not too awful."
Connolly was diagnosed with prostate cancer and Parkinson's disease on the same day last September, two days after he got hearing aids.
But after his prostate was surgically removed the next month, and following another scare with a life-threatening blood clot, the 71-year-old was given the all-clear in December.
He was also told his Parkinson's was a mild, slow-moving form which needed no medication.
"He's come through and out the other side of this stuff," Stephenson-Connolly said.
"He's been really funny about the Parkinson's, really funny about the prostate cancer."
Stephenson-Connolly, who's in Sydney for her new Afro-Brazilian dance-drama Brazouka, said if anything Connolly's health issues have gifted him a glut of fresh comedy material to work with, including how his cancer was found via a "routine finger up the bum test".
"He's just riffing with that now, he's going crazy with it."
Despite the positive prognosis, Stephenson said it had been a difficult time for the couple's entire family.
"I mean you know that people aren't going to stay healthy and young forever, so you always know that there's always the possibility that someone's gonna get sick," she said.
"And every couple has to look at that. But life goes on and he's stronger than ever."
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