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David Lynch Started Smoking at Age 8 — Now He Needs Oxygen to Walk: 'It's a Big Price to Pay'

Director David Lynch, 78, started smoking at the age of 8. After being diagnosed with emphysema in 2020, he now relies on oxygen for anything more strenuous than walking across a room. "It's a big price to pay," he tells PEOPLE exclusively. Two years ago, he finally stopped smoking — and now he's urging others to quit too.

A native of Montana whose father was a forestry research scientist for the Department of Agriculture, Lynch grew up in rural Idaho and Washington and began smoking at the age of 8. From 1986’s Blue Velvet to his groundbreaking ’90s TV series Twin Peaks and its 2017 revival, smoking was intertwined with Lynchian characters and his dreamlike cinematography. and it said, ‘You’re going to die in a week if you don’t stop,’” says Lynch, who has four children, including a 12-year-old daughter, Lula (he’s currently in the midst of a divorce from his fourth wife, Emily Stofle).

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