Acclaimed director David Lynch started smoking at age 8 and now relies on supplemental oxygen for anything more strenuous than a walk across a room, he said in an interview to People, warning people of the dangers of smoking.
Lynch revealed in August that he suffers from emphysema, a chronic lung condition that causes shortness of breath. He also said that he had officially quit smoking two years prior.
“I have to say that I enjoyed smoking very much, and I do love tobacco — the smell of it, lighting cigarettes on fire, smoking them — but there is a price to pay for this enjoyment, and the price for me is emphysema,” he wrote on X. “Recently I had many tests and the good news is that I am in excellent shape except for emphysema.”
He added that he is “filled with happiness” and will “never retire.”
The Academy award nominee and Palm d’Or winner showcased his love for smoking in much of his work. From 1986’s modern classic “Blue Velvet” to his iconic ’90s TV series “Twin Peaks,” smoking was interwoven throughout Lynch’s filmography.
“A big important part of my life was smoking,” he told People. “It was part of being a painter and a filmmaker for me.”
Despite his current condition, Lynch told People he wouldn’t change a thing about including cigarettes so frequently in his work.
“I never thought about it as glamorizing it,” he said to People. “It was a part of life. Some characters would be smokers, just like in real life.”
But the 78-year-old admitted to People that “what you sow is what you reap.”
“You’re literally playing with fire,” he told People. “It can bite you. I took a chance, and I got bit.”
Lynch tried to quit over the years “many, many times” according to People, but struggled to abstain from smoking when it “got tough.”
“I saw the writing on the wall, and it said, ‘You’re going to die in a week if you don’t stop,’” Lynch told People. “I could hardly move without gasping for air. Quitting was my only choice.”
His long-time practice of transcendental meditation helped him quit his almost lifelong habit, People said. Lynch even started his own foundation to share the skill with others struggling with trauma and toxic stress. He started transcendental meditation in 1973 and has meditated twice a day, every day, ever since, according to his foundation’s website.
“I really wanted to get this across: Think about it. You can quit these things that are going to end up killing you,” he told People.
Even so, he also told People, “It’s tough living with emphysema. I can hardly walk across a room. It’s like you’re walking around with a plastic bag around your head.”
The disease makes him more vulnerable to other respiratory illnesses, keeping him essentially homebound and away from film sets, People said. Lynch is open to trying to direct remotely in the future though, he told People.
While he admitted that his current state has been a “big price to pay,” Lynch told People, “I don’t regret it. It was important to me. I wish what every addict wishes for: that what we love is good for us.”
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