Whew! Leonard Cohen Now Says "I Intend to Live Forever"

BY Brock ThiessenPublished Oct 14, 2016

Leonard Cohen made some serious headlines this week when he was quoted as saying: "I am ready to die." Well, now he's backtracking big time on all that.

As Billboard reports, Cohen led a Q&A at the Canadian consulate in L.A. yesterday (October 13) for his new album You Want It Darker. While there, he addressed the now infamous quote.

"Uh, I said I was ready to die recently," the 82-year-old singer-songwriter told the crowd. "And I think I was exaggerating. I've always been into self-dramatization. I intend to live forever."

Then, as the Q&A was ending, Cohen followed that up with this: "Thanks for coming, friends. I really appreciate your standing up when I came into the room. I hope we can do this again. I intend to stick around until 120."

If you didn't catch the reference there, "May you live until 120" is a common Jewish blessing. And with Cohen of course being Jewish, that's what he's no doubt referring to.

So there you go, everyone. Rest easy, as Cohen plans to stick around if not forever at least a while longer.

You Want It Darker arrives on October 21 through Sony.

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