David Lynch has chronic lung disease
He had been smoking since he was eight years old
Director David Lynch can rarely leave the house due to lung disease. Nevertheless, he doesn’t regret smoking.
Filmmaker David Lynch (78) has spoken openly about how limiting his lung disease is. Four years ago, the cult director was diagnosed with emphysema, a chronic illness that causes shortness of breath. Therefore, he now relies on additional oxygen for all activities that are longer than a walk through a room. He wanted to warn other smokers that the same thing could happen to them.
“Smoking was an important part of my life,” Lynch said. “I loved the smell and taste of tobacco. I loved lighting cigarettes. It was part of my existence as a painter and filmmaker,” he explains. But now he has reaped what he sowed. “I took a risk and got bitten.” As a smoker you are literally playing with fire.
David Lynch started smoking at the age of eight
Smoking has been with him since he was a child. Lynch says he started smoking at the age of eight. He has “tried to quit smoking many, many times” over the years. But when he had difficulties, he always resorted to a cigarette, which was like a “heavenly journey”: “Then you start smoking again.”
Even the diagnosis of his lung disease couldn’t convince him to stop in 2020. That took two more years. “I could barely move without gasping for air. Stopping was my only choice.” What helped him were daily meditations. This practice makes him optimistic: “My positive attitude is that I focus on the body healing itself.” Living with emphysema is hard. “It’s like walking around with a plastic bag around your head.”
He can no longer go to the film set
Because his condition makes him susceptible to other respiratory diseases, he stays at home a lot. “I never used to like going out, so that’s a good excuse,” Lynch joked in an interview with People. But the illness also prevents him from being in his favorite place – on the film set.
He paid a “high price” for the consequences of his passion for smoking, but he doesn’t regret having picked up cigarettes throughout his life. “It was important to me. I want what every addict wants: that what we love is good for us.” He also doesn’t want to change the fact that smoking is often a central part of his films. He owes it to himself and other smokers to speak openly about his illness: “Think about it. You can stop doing the things that end up killing you.”
Emphysema is a chronic lung disease that, among other things, causes shortness of breath. It is usually caused by pollution or smoking cigarettes.
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Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
