‘I can barely walk across a room’: David Lynch urges smokers to quit after emphysema diagnosis | David Lynch

Filmmaker and lifelong smoker David Lynch has spoken out about the dangers of the habit, revealing he started smoking aged eight and now needs extra oxygen even to walk short distances.

In August, the Twin Peaks director revealed that he had been diagnosed with emphysema, a chronic lung disease that causes shortness of breath. In one brief statement on X he wrote: “I enjoyed smoking a lot … but there is a price to pay for this enjoyment, and the price for me is emphysema.”

Now the 78-year-old calls on others to stop – and presents himself as a cautionary tale. In an interview with People magazine on Thursday, Lynch revealed the extent of his emphysema and said he needs supplemental oxygen for most activities: “I can barely walk across a room. It’s like walking around with a plastic bag over your head.”

Lynch told People that smoking had been “a very important part of my life … it was part of being a painter and a filmmaker for me.”

Although smoking became part of his public image, captured in portraits and candid press shots, his love affair with tobacco played out on screen, regularly lighting up characters in Twin Peaks and films such as Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive.

Lynch said he had tried to quit “many, many times” over the years. “But when the going got tough, I wanted the first cigarette and it was a one-way trip to heaven. Then you smoke back again.”

Even after he was diagnosed with emphysema in 2020, he didn’t kick the habit for two more years. “I saw the writing on the wall and it said, ‘You’ll die in a week if you don’t stop,'” Lynch told People. “I could hardly move without gasping for air. Quitting was my only choice.”

These days, Lynch is mostly housebound, wary of getting infections that could worsen his illness. This has made working on set impossible, although he has said he is open to remote directing in the future. His last feature was 2006’s Inland Empire and his last big screen project was 2017’s Twin Peaks reboot, although he continued to make webisodes, short films and music videos, most recently as part of his collaboration with American singer Chrystabell.

He has taken occasional acting roles, including a cameo as cigar-chomping director John Ford in Steven Spielberg’s 2022 Oscar winner The Fabelmans.

While he admits the price he’s paid for smoking is great, Lynch told People he doesn’t “regret it,” but wanted others to learn from his experience: “I really wanted to see this through: Think about it. You can stop doing these things that will end up killing you.”