Joni Mitchell is 'speaking well' and will make full recovery, says longtime friend

Leslie Morris says reports that singer is struggling after suffering aneurysm are ‘speculative’ and that a full recovery is expected

Joni Mitchell is on the road to a “full recovery”, according to her conservator, Leslie Morris. Morris released a statement through the singer’s website on 28 June, confirming that Mitchell had suffered an aneurysm in March, but that she was now “speaking well”.

“Joni did in fact suffer an aneurysm. However, details that have emerged in the past few days are mostly speculative,” Morris wrote. “The truth is that Joni is speaking, and she’s speaking well. She is not walking yet, but she will be in the near future as she is undergoing daily therapies. She is resting comfortably in her own home and she’s getting better each day. A full recovery is expected.”

Morris, a friend of Mitchell’s for more than 44 years, was named her conservator following her aneurysm.

Last week, in an interview with HuffPost Live, Mitchell’s friend David Crosby had offered a less cheerful assessment of her health. “I have not spoken with her. To my knowledge she is not speaking yet. She is home, she is in care, she is recovering,” he said. “She took a terrible hit. She had an aneurysm, and nobody found her for a while. And she’s going to have to struggle back from it the way you struggle back from a traumatic brain injury.”

He added: “She’s a tough girl and very smart. So, how much she’s going to come back and when, I don’t know and I’m not going to guess. I love her... She’s probably the best of us – probably the greatest living singer-songwriter.”

Mitchell, 71, was found unconscious at her home in Los Angeles on 31 March. She was placed in intensive care.

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