David Lynch diagnosed with emphysema: “I’m homebound whether I like it or not”

UPDATE: In a new message on social media, Lynch adds, “I have now quit smoking for over two years. Recently I had many tests and the good news is that I am in excellent shape except for emphysema. I am filled with happiness, and I will never retire. I want you all to know that I really appreciate your concern.”

David Lynch has revealed that he’s been diagnosed with severe emphysema and that he can no longer leave the house without losing his breath. The director, who also just released an album with Chrystabell last week, talked about his condition in a cover story interview in the new issue of Sight And Sound magazine.

A famously avid smoker, Lynch says it was that habit that led to his condition. “I’ve gotten emphysema from smoking for so long and so I’m homebound whether I like it or not. And I can only walk a short distance before I’m out of oxygen,” he told Sight & Sound. “It would be very bad for me to get sick, even with a cold,”

“Smoking was something that I absolutely loved, but in the end, it bit me,” Lynch said. “It was part of the art life for me: the tobacco and the smell of it, and lighting things and smoking and going back and sitting back and having a smoke and looking at your work, or thinking about things; nothing like it in this world is so beautiful. Meanwhile, it’s killing me. So I had to quit.”

Lynch says if he was to direct again, it would have to be remotely. He doesn’t currently have an active project; he pitched an animated series to Netflix, who passed, and also has an unproduced 2010 screenplay titled Antelope Don’t Run No More ,which he would still like to make. His last major work as a director was 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6S5GGH7y6g