After 68 Years Of Smoking, David Lynch Now Needs Oxygen To Walk, But Says He ‘Doesn’t Regret’ The Habit

David Lynch, the visionary filmmaker behind Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks, is opening up about the lifelong smoking habit that has left him facing serious health challenges.

The 77-year-old director, who started smoking at the age of 8 and only quit at 76, now requires supplemental oxygen for any physical activity beyond walking across a room.

Lynch was diagnosed with emphysema in 2020, a condition that severely affects his ability to breathe.

“In the back of every smoker’s mind is the fact that it’s healthy, so you’re literally playing with fire,” Lynch told People. “It can bite you. I took a chance, and I got bit.”

Despite his diagnosis, Lynch didn’t quit cigarettes immediately. “I saw the writing on the wall, and it said, ‘You’re going to die in a week if you don’t stop,'” he recalled. “I could hardly move without gasping for air. Quitting was my only choice.”

Lynch shared that his condition prevents him from directing on set, though he is considering remote directing options.

“It’s tough living with emphysema,” he said. “I can hardly walk across a room. It’s like you’re walking around with a plastic bag around your head.”

The filmmaker also revealed that he rarely leaves his home these days, though he takes it in stride. “I never really liked going out before, so it’s a nice excuse,” he joked.

Surprisingly, Lynch doesn’t regret his decades-long smoking habit. “I don’t regret it. It was important to me,” he said. “I wish what every addict wishes for: that what we love is good for us.”

“I loved the smell of tobacco, the taste of tobacco,” he continued. “I loved lighting cigarettes. It was part of being a painter and a filmmaker for me.”

Lynch also shared his perspective on depicting smoking in films. “I never thought about it as glamorizing it,” he said. “It was a part of life. Some characters would be smokers, just like in real life.”

He still emphasized that he hopes his experience will encourage others to quit smoking before facing similar consequences. “I really wanted to get this across: Think about it. You can quit these things that are going to end up killing you,” he said. “I owe it to them — and to myself — to say that.”

Lynch’s most recent feature film, Inland Empire (2006), is a surreal story featuring his longtime collaborator Laura Dern, centered around a cursed Hollywood production. His last significant directorial effort was Twin Peaks: The Return (2017), a critically acclaimed 18-episode continuation of the iconic ABC mystery series that brought him widespread recognition in the early 1990s. As an occasional actor, Lynch made his latest on-screen appearance in 2022 with a brief role in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans.

In December 2023, Lynch’s fourth wife, Emily Stofle, filed for divorce.

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