Joni Mitchell says she is still “struggling” five years after suffering an aneurysm.
The Canadian icon was rushed to hospital in March 2015 after being found unconscious at her home in Bel Air, California.
“I haven’t been writing recently. I haven’t been playing my guitar or the piano or anything,” Mitchell, 76, told filmmaker Cameron Crowe in a conversation for The Guardian. “No, I’m just concentrating on getting my health back.
“You know what? I came back from polio, so here I am again, and struggling back … Just inching my way along. I’m showing slow improvement but moving forward.”
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Mitchell contracted polio when she was 9 years old and spent weeks in an Alberta hospital.
The singer-songwriter said the aneurysm was worse.
“Once again I couldn’t walk. I had to learn how again. I couldn’t talk,” recalled Mitchell. “Polio didn’t grab me like that, but the aneurysm took away a lot more, really. Took away my speech and my ability to walk.
“And, you know, I got my speech back quickly, but the walking I’m still struggling with. But I mean, I’m a fighter. I’ve got Irish blood! So you know, I knew, ‘Here I go again, another battle.’”