Billy Connolly thinks 'death is not the big thing it's made out to be' amid battle with Parkinson's

Billy Connolly has spoken about "confronting" the reality of having Parkinson's.

The comedian was diagnosed with the degenerative disease in 2103, on the same day he was told he also had prostate cancer.

In a new interview, the 81-year-old talked about first receiving the diagnosis over 10 years ago.

"On the Monday, I had hearing aids. On the Tuesday I got pills for heart burn, which I have to take all the time, and on the Wednesday I got news that I had prostate cancer and Parkinson's," he told the Mirror.

He joked that he probably got the illness after appearing on Michael Parkinson's chat show.

"I just thought 'I have got Parkinson's. I wish he (Michael) had kept it to himself!" he said. "It was easy (making fun of it). You just confront it and make decisions based on it. You just have to think 'Don't think you are being badly treated (in life) or you have the bad pick of the straws. You are one of millions.' Just behave yourself and relax."

He added, "You then realise it (death) is not the big thing everyone has made it out to be. It is nothing. It is just a sudden nothing."

Earlier this year, Billy, who has been married to Pamela Stephenson since 1989, explained how his disease was changing.

"It's very difficult to see the progression exactly, because a lot of things come and go," he said. "Recently I've noticed a deterioration in my balance. That was never such a problem before, but in the last year that has come and it has stayed. For some reason, I thought it would go away, because a lot of symptoms have come and gone away... just to defy the symptom spotters. The shaking has reappeared."

Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative condition that affects the nerve cells in the brain that control movement.