Monty Python Legend Shares Heartbreaking Health Update After Severe Injuries From Fall

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Just over a month ago, Monty Python alum Michael Palin revealed that he’d experienced some severe injuries when he suffered a fall at his home in London.

Now, the 83-year-old comedy legend is breaking his silence about the extent of those injuries, detailing the mobility issues and health setbacks that have resulted.

‘The Laughs Are On Me’

On Sunday, November 8, Sir Michael (he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 2019) took to Instagram to share a message, which he titled, “What Goes Around Comes Around.”

“It’s now exactly a month since I thudded to my bathroom floor — returning from a pee at 3.30 in the morning. I still can’t walk without a zimmer,” he said, using the British term for what North Americans commonly refer to as a walker.

“The laughs are all on me. Zimmers were used in Monty Python when we wanted to play slow-moving elderly people,” he joked.

“Now I’m an elderly person for real, having to move very slowly as I have three broken ribs and a cracked pelvis. Bones take time to heal and I’m probably doomed to play this particular Python character for a few weeks more,” Palin continued.

“I’m feeling sore, not just because I’ll never be able to achieve my dream of being the oldest Olympic hurdler but that I was never able to finish my Philippines tour and had to disappoint so many who’d bought tickets. I promise not to go to the bathroom ever again, and I shall try and find some other show dates next year,” he added.

“For now, I have a stack of books to read and all the time in the world to catch up with ‘Slow Horses’ and the absolutely compulsive ‘This City Is Ours.’ And, if things get really low, the Fish Slapping Dance,” he said, referencing the classic bit from “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.”

“Thank you all for your patience,” Palin concluded. “Here’s to the next time.”

A ‘Quite Unsensational’ Accident

Palin originally shared news of his accident in a previous Instagram post, issued October 13.

In his message to fans, Palin revealed that the injuries he sustained in the fall would put him out of commission for several months, forcing him to cancel a planned book tour to promote his latest, “Michael Palin in the Philippines.”

“My accident was quite unsensational, a slip in the family bathroom where I’ve walked for 58 years,” Palin wrote.

“I fell heavily on my left side resulting in three fractured ribs and a minor pelvic fracture,” he added Palin, who reunited with Python co-star John Cleese for the 1988 classic “A Fish Called Wanda,” which also starred Jamie Lee Curtis.

“The recovery of bone fractures takes a long time especially when you’re 83,” he continued.

Previous Health Scares

Sadly, this isn’t the first time that Palin has been forced to cancel events due to issues surrounding his health.

Back in 2019, he postponed all planned obligations when he underwent cardiac surgery to repair what he described at the time as a “leaky valve” in his heart.

“Five years ago, a routine health check revealed a leaky mitral valve in my heart. Until the beginning of this year it had not affected my general level of fitness,” he said, as reported by Hello!

“Recently, though, I have felt my heart having to work harder and have been advised it’s time to have the valve repaired,” he added. “I shall be undergoing surgery in September and should be back to normal, or rather better than normal, within three months.”

That surgery proved to be successful.