George Michael ‘woke from coma with different accent’
British singer George Michael has revealed that he woke from his
three-week coma talking in the broad West Country accent spoken in
western England.
London-born Michael, who almost died of pneumonia at the end of last
year, said he was unable to revert to his usual accent for two days
after gaining consciousness and his family feared he would be stuck with
the new one forever.
“I swear this is true,” the 49-year-old told London's LBC radio
station on Tuesday. “I came out of my coma talking in this West Country
accent.” Michael said that as he opened his eyes, doctors asked him if
he knew who he was - to which he replied, “King of the world?” in the
distinctive West Country burr.
“The doctors were worried that I had this condition where some people
wake up speaking French or some language they learned at school,” he
said.
Foreign Accent Syndrome is a rare medical condition in which people
emerge from a neurological injury speaking in an entirely different
accent.
In some cases, they speak fluently in a language they barely know.
“There's nothing wrong with a West Country accent,” said the former
star of the 1980s pop duo Wham!, “but it's a bit weird when you're from
north London.
“My sisters, who were obviously so relieved that I'd actually woken
up, were just laughing away at this stand up comedy.” Michael was forced
to cut short his Symphonica tour last November after he was rushed to a
hospital in the Austrian capital Vienna with a severe bout of pneumonia.
Arriving back in London last December, the “Careless Whisper” singer
admitted it had been “touch and go” at times during the month he spent
in hospital recovering from the lung infection.
Speaking to BBC radio on Tuesday, he said Austrian doctors had
“downplayed” his condition to avoid a “death watch kind of thing”.
AFP |