In an interview with Sight & Sound, the 78-year-old director remarked, “I’ve gotten emphysema from smoking for so long, and I’m homebound whether I like it or not.”
“I can’t go out,” he added. “And I can only walk a short distance before I’m out of oxygen.”
According to him, “now, because of COVID, it would be very bad for me to get sick, even with a cold.”
Emphysema is a lung illness that causes shortness of breath. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it commonly develops after years of smoking.
“I absolutely loved smoking, but it bit me in the end,” he acknowledged, expressing a love.
Lynch is renowned for his dark and occasionally surreal narrative in films such as Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, and Mulholland Drive.
Throughout his career, the director, writer, and occasional actor has received four Oscar nominations and five Emmy nominations, among hundreds of other accolades.