From the moment that country legend Glen Campbell broke the news that he been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, we wondered: Would he ever play music again?
But the question that plagued country music fans the most was the question we truly didn’t want to hear the answer to: how long will we have him here with us?
That question was answered via a recently published interview in the Chattanooga Times Free Press with Campbell's devoted wife Kim, who says that the legend is currently in the sixth of seven stages of the disease, having lost his ability to communicate.
“He calls me Mrs. Campbell. But he definitely understands smiles, hugs, kisses. He’s physically healthy, cheerful and content most of the time,” Kim Campbell said.
And while Glen Campbell is able to still sing a few lines of a few songs, his personality can get combative at times, escalating to a point in which Kim Campbell has even been injured.
“But he can become extremely combative if you try to redirect him to something that he doesn’t want to do,” she explained. “I have a black eye right now. I know that’s not him. That’s not who he is. It’s just the Alzheimer’s.”
Tricia Despres is the contributing editor for Rare Country, based out of Chicago, Illinois. Join the conversation on Twitter at @RareCountry. We would love to see y’all there.
