Carly Simon has Parkinson’s disease, the singer revealed Monday, explaining her recent absence from public life.

“So many people have written to me, kindly wondering about my relative silence, asking how I am and what I have been doing,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said in a statement to the Daily News. “The truth is, I’ve been learning how to live with Parkinson’s disease.”

The learning curve is steep, said Simon, 83.

“It has taken me some time to understand the diagnosis, to adjust to it, and to decide how much I wanted to say about it publicly,” she continued. “Parkinson’s is different for everyone, and it can be unpredictable. Some days I’m so tired I can’t get the day moving at all. On others, it gives me a little more room to move, think, work, and feel like myself.”

Simon had been largely out of the public eye since 2019. She said her diagnosis came after arthritis-induced joint replacements in a hip and both knees did not address her growing stiffness and mobility issues. That sent her to the Mayo Clinic, where tests revealed the diagnosis.

The effects of the nervous system disorder go beyond its hallmark tremors, movement and balance issues to include “anxiety, depression, exhaustion and apathy,” hitting not only the physical ability to move but also the will to do so, Simon said.

“The apathy is particularly strange,” Simon said. “You can find yourself lying there like a starfish drying in the sun, arms pointing in all directions, while nothing inside is telling you to get up, read, watch, write, sing, call someone, or do much of anything at all.”

As all this was going on — Simon did not say when she was first diagnosed — the “You’re So Vain” singer also contended with basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, on her face.

“The cancer was removed, but the surgery affected my appearance and made me more self-conscious about being seen in public,” which “gave my inner critic quite a lot of new material,” given her lifelong self-consciousness about her appearance, she said. Seclusion proved to be “the most palatable reaction” as she reconfigured her life, processed the emotional impact and recovered from surgery.

“But I have not stopped living, and I have not stopped working,” Simon said. That work has culminated in a new album, her first original release since 2008, consisting partly of “songs and fragments of songs that had been waiting for me, some for years. There were melodies, verses, and ideas written down and tucked away for some unknown future when I would have the time and attention to finish them.”

“Comes in Waves” will be released on Aug. 14.

“Music has always known when to arrive,” the Grammy- and Oscar- winning musician said. “It has rescued me more times that I can count. It is like a cat or dog that quietly appears beside you when it senses you are not quite yourself.”

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