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

The Twin Peaks director, who began smoking at eight, says he ‘saw the writing on the wall and it said, “You’re going to die in a week if you don’t stop”’

The film-maker and lifelong smoker David Lynch has spoken out about the dangers of the habit, revealing he started smoking at the age of eight and now needs supplemental oxygen even to walk small distances. Even as smoking became part of his public image, captured in portraits and candid press shots, his love affair with tobacco played out on screen, with characters in Twin Peaks and films such as Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive regularly lighting up. His last feature was 2006’s Inland Empire, and his last major screen project was 2017’s Twin Peaks reboot, though he continued to make webisodes, short films and music videos, most recently as part of his collaboration with the US singer Chrystabell.

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