Legendary musician Ringo Starr shared about his harrowing health ordeal that caused him to cancel tour dates, the Daily Caller reported. The former Beatles drummer did not share the exact cause, but that it felt he "had a mad thing eating my body."
The 84-year-old was forced to cancel the remaining dates of his All-Starr tour due to this severe illness. Reports circulated that he was fighting COVID-19.
In an interview with Variety, Starr set the record straight. "It wasn’t the virus — I had that two years ago," Starr said, though he admitted that it "knocked me down."
Instead, Starr described an unspecified malady that made him seriously ill. "It was a mad thing eating my body, and they found out when they took my blood that the white cells there was 12,000 of ’em," Starr said.
Starr explained that the high white cell count was a sign that he was gravely ill. "That’s pretty high. And that happens," Starr said.
"That’s what saved your life — they were fighting the attacker. And so with pills and medication, I got over it in two weeks," he added.
T. Bone Burnett, who was part of the interview with Starr, said the musician was otherwise in great condition despite his advanced age. "I saw him play at the Ryman a few months ago, and, he took a break in the middle and his dressing room was upstairs, and he ran up the stairs," he said.
"So I think he’s got plenty of miles left in him," Burnett added. Starr, whose career has spanned decades, is nowhere near stopping, as he will release another album next year.
View this post on Instagram
Starr continues to make music and perform, but his time with the Beatles still draws considerable curiosity. This fact has compelled Starr to be one of the producers of "Beatles '64" documentary, a retrospective look at the band by Martin Scorsese.
The Fab Four drummer sat down for an interview to talk about the documentary that will debut on Disney+ on November 29. "Honestly, it’s a little hard now. There’s only Paul and I, and it was the four of us…," he added.
Starr said that the newest documentary will feature post-Beatles works by Starr and Paul McCartney as he fondly remembered the original 1964 film that documented the Fab Four's visit to America. Brothers Albert and David Maysles captured footage that became "What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A." about the band.
This time, Starr and McCartney will get to tell the story more from their perspectives. "Marty is producing this remake with his director of choice and putting us more in it to talk about that, so you’ve got that time and this time talking about that time," Starr shared.
Sixty years after the Beatles exploded in popularity, one of its remaining members is still as relevant as ever in his own right. Starr may have had his health challenges, but the world hasn't heard the last of him yet.
