Jimmy Barnes and his wife Jane Barnes have opened up about the rock star’s recent health battles in a new interview with The Senior.
Over the last three years, the singer has gone through multiple health challenges, including open heart surgery, pneumonia and a staph infection in his hip which led to a hip replacement surgery.
Despite the multiple close calls, Jimmy said he is “healthier now than I’ve been for years” but admitted he’s taking it easy, while still doing his best to perform for fans.
“I’m not gonna be swinging off the rafters; I’m not gonna be jumping from PA stands and crowd surfing …[but] I’ve been doing a lot of stuff to train for this tour,” Jimmy said.
“[Touring is] another aspect of our lives which has helped bring us joy, you know, and being in the band with some of our kids and Jane on stage with me, it’s one of the things I love.”
However, Jane shared her fears for her husband’s health, saying: “He went out on the road too soon.”
“I’m traumatised … just take it easy.”
The star tried to reassure her in the interview, flexing his biceps and saying: “Now I’m healthy, look how healthy I am”.
Elsewhere in the interview, the pair shared the changes they’ve made to their lifestyle like eating healthier, swimming and meditating together.
“I tried to get as fit as I could before I went in for surgery, and so it started there and and I just love swimming,” Jimmy said.
“It’s sort of meditative. You can’t talk to anybody, you can’t listen to music, you get in a rhythm and you’re breathing.”
He added that Jane influenced him to take up meditation in his younger years, a habit that he has continued to implement in his life, as it helps him “calm down”.
“I try to stay healthy – even in my wildest times, my darkest times,” he said.
“I’m fighting fit because of Jane’s cooking and the garden,” he added referring to their growing veggie patch on their Bowral property in the NSW Southern Highlands.
The couple have since released their second cookbook Seasons Where the River Bends, with easy and “doable” recipes.
“We’ve dedicated the book to the doctors and nurses from St Vincent’s and St Luke’s, who saved his life, because you wouldn’t be here,” Jane said.
Jimmy replied that if it wasn’t for them, “I wouldn’t be out enjoying my garden.”
Images: Instagram
