Gary Numan, the 68-year-old 80s music legend, has opened up about his wife Gemma O'Neil's serious health struggles and his own fears of living without her. The couple, who married in 1997 and renewed their vows in 2022, have faced a series of medical challenges that have left Gemma paralysed in her left arm after spinal surgery.
Gemma, who met Gary in 1992 after being introduced by her father, underwent an operation on her spine to treat a herniated disc earlier this year. The surgery left her paralysed in her left arm, though physiotherapy has helped her regain some movement in her lower arm and biceps. In addition, she has a hole in the heart, has suffered a transient ischaemic attack, Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), pneumonia, and nutcracker syndrome, and has had a difficult menopause.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Gary admitted he would not want to live without Gemma. 'More than how would I cope, is, would I care to be here at all if she wasn't? No,' he said. 'I wouldn't end it if she died, because of the children, and I hope she wouldn't. One of us is going to go first. And being selfish, I hope it's me. I don't want to be without her, but I'm really massively healthy, and she's not.'
Gary also shared his own health struggles, revealing on the I'm ADHD! No You're Not podcast that he is now 90 per cent deaf and lives with Asperger's syndrome. He described his childhood habits of tapping his fingers and counting telegraph poles, which he has learned to control over the years.
