'Monty Python' actor-director Terry Jones has been diagnosed with dementia
The 74-year-old has primary progressive aphasia, which erodes the ability to use language. As a result, Jones can no longer give interviews.
Actor and director Terry Jones, a founding member of Britain’s zany Monty Python comedy team, has been diagnosed with a form of dementia that restricts his capacity to speak, his representative said.
Jones, 74, is a member of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”, formed in the late 1960s with John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam.
A spokesperson for Jones said the comedian had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia, which is a variant of frontotemporal dementia.
“This illness affects his ability to communicate and he is no longer able to give interviews,” the representative said in a statement.
The National Aphasia Association describes primary progressive aphasia as a neurological disorder of language that commonly progresses to a near total inability to speak. It is not a form of Alzheimer’s disease.
“Most people with PPA maintain ability to take care of themselves, pursue hobbies, and, in some instances, remain employed.” the association says on its website.
