OMEN
12-07-2007, 07:31 PM
DIVINYLS singer Chrissy Amphlett has bravely revealed she is battling multiple sclerosis on the eve of the band's headlining reunion performance at Homebake today.
The wild woman of Australian rock broke her silence last night to explain occasional bouts of unsteadiness, which some observers had unkindly speculated was alcohol or drug-related.
Amphlett stopped drinking 11 years ago.
While the 48-year-old singer may have been afflicted with the disease that cripples the central nervous system for more than two decades, it has become more debilitating for her in the past five years.
Her health concerns became serious when she was performing in the Boy From Oz opposite Hugh Jackman.
She reprised her role as Judy Garland last year in an arena spectacular, performing a staggering 42 shows around Australia.
"I remember this day, this first day of learning a dance and my leg just folded under me and I collapsed on the floor, and I just got up," Amphlett revealed on A Current Affair.
"No one said a word, and Hugh Jackman never said a word, an unkind word to me once or said you are ruining my ... he was so beautiful and supportive".
Amphlett said she was able to keep her secret from the Boy from Oz cast because she was playing Garland.
"I don't think (Jackman knew) but he accepted me in whatever state and because I was playing Judy Garland so you could just put it all into character," she said.
Amphlett, who detailed her rock'n'roll lifestyle in her autobiography Pleasure And Pain said she was being treated with an immune balancer.
She and bandmate Mark McEntee have been back in the spotlight in recent months after announcing they were reigniting Divinyls to perform at Homebake, undertake a national tour and record a new album.
"I stopped drinking 11 years ago so I really want to make sure that people don't associate what I have, which is MS, there are plenty of people who have not lived the life that I have lived that have MS," she said.
The entertainer, who can't get out of bed some days because of her MS symptoms, said when she was first diagnosed she told her musician husband Charlie Drayton he could divorce her.
She said she kept her silence about the disease because she did not want to be defined by it.
"I said you have married a dud ... and I said if you want to divorce me you can now 'cause I don't want you to waste your life," the singer said.
Daily Telegraph
The wild woman of Australian rock broke her silence last night to explain occasional bouts of unsteadiness, which some observers had unkindly speculated was alcohol or drug-related.
Amphlett stopped drinking 11 years ago.
While the 48-year-old singer may have been afflicted with the disease that cripples the central nervous system for more than two decades, it has become more debilitating for her in the past five years.
Her health concerns became serious when she was performing in the Boy From Oz opposite Hugh Jackman.
She reprised her role as Judy Garland last year in an arena spectacular, performing a staggering 42 shows around Australia.
"I remember this day, this first day of learning a dance and my leg just folded under me and I collapsed on the floor, and I just got up," Amphlett revealed on A Current Affair.
"No one said a word, and Hugh Jackman never said a word, an unkind word to me once or said you are ruining my ... he was so beautiful and supportive".
Amphlett said she was able to keep her secret from the Boy from Oz cast because she was playing Garland.
"I don't think (Jackman knew) but he accepted me in whatever state and because I was playing Judy Garland so you could just put it all into character," she said.
Amphlett, who detailed her rock'n'roll lifestyle in her autobiography Pleasure And Pain said she was being treated with an immune balancer.
She and bandmate Mark McEntee have been back in the spotlight in recent months after announcing they were reigniting Divinyls to perform at Homebake, undertake a national tour and record a new album.
"I stopped drinking 11 years ago so I really want to make sure that people don't associate what I have, which is MS, there are plenty of people who have not lived the life that I have lived that have MS," she said.
The entertainer, who can't get out of bed some days because of her MS symptoms, said when she was first diagnosed she told her musician husband Charlie Drayton he could divorce her.
She said she kept her silence about the disease because she did not want to be defined by it.
"I said you have married a dud ... and I said if you want to divorce me you can now 'cause I don't want you to waste your life," the singer said.
Daily Telegraph