After silently fighting Charcot-Marie Tooth disease for more than a decade, country music star Alan Jackson finally opened up in 2021, sharing that he’s struggling with the disease, which “is getting more and more obvious.”
And recently, he offered an update on his condition and revealed the future of performing live to his beloved fans.In 2021, the now 65-year-old Alan Jackson was speaking with Today’s Jenna Bush Hager and opened up about his health struggles with Charcot-Marie Tooth disease (CMT).
“I have this neuropathy and neurological disease,” Jackson shared about the illness he’s been battling 10 years. “It’s genetic that I inherited from my daddy…There’s no cure for it, but it’s been affecting me for years.”
“It’s not going to kill me. It’s not deadly,” Added the “Good Times” singer. Offering fans a point of reference, he then said, “But it’s related [to] muscular dystrophy and Parkinson’s disease.”
John Hopkins Medicine describes CMT as “an inherited disorder that affects the nerves supplying the feet, legs, hands, and arms. It is caused by gene defects that are nearly always inherited from a person’s parents.”
The singer of “Chattahoochie” explains that both his grandmother, and older sister also have CMT.
“It’s getting more and more obvious. And I know I’m stumbling around on stage,” said the Georgia born singer. “And now I’m having a little trouble balancing, even in front of the microphone, and so I just feel very uncomfortable.”
Last call
The same year, he embarked on his tour, Last Call: One More for the Road Tour, emphasizing it was not a “farewell tour.”
“I never wanted to do the big retirement tour, like people do, then take a year off and then come back,” he told Bush Hager in the September 2021 interview. “I think that’s kinda cheesy. And I’m not saying I won’t be able to tour. I’ll try to do as much as I can. I don’t want people to be sad for me, it’s just part of life. I’ve had a wonderful, beautiful life…It’s just good to put it out there in the open. In some ways, it’s a relief.”
He adds, “I’ve been reluctant to talk about this publicly and to my fans…It’s called CMT, ironically enough, because CMT was a big part of my career.”
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