Jimmy Barnes’ recent brush with death made headlines as fans prayed for the rock star to pull through after open heart surgery.
And now Elly-May Barnes has opened up over her own deep fears for her father after watching the 67-year-old music legend struggle to recover from last December’s operation.
‘If he’s not ok, I’m not ok,’ the 34-year-old singer said in a new interview.
Describing her relationship with her dad ‘as twin stars’ in the April issue of Australian Women’s Weekly Elly-May added: ‘We’re similar in a lot of ways.’
The father and daughter revealed their close bond in the joint interview. They also posed for a touching photo shoot for the magazine.
Jimmy Barnes and his daughter Elly-May have opened up about their close bond in the April issue of The Australian Women’s Weeklt out on Thursday.
In one beautiful picture Jimmy can be seen hugging his daughter close to his chest.
Another pictures features Elly-May posing in a gorgeous white frock in a garden of flowers.
In another photo Jimmy and his wife Jane can be seen posing with Elly-May and her ten-year-old son Dylan.
Elly-May has just released a new album which Jimmy has described as exceptional.
Meanwhile, Elly-May, who has cerebral palsy, has just completed her first album, ‘No Good’.
‘The fact Elly-May has had to overcome so many obstacles relating to her disability along this journey makes me even more amazed and proud,’ Jimmy told the AWW.
Describing his daughter’s new record as ‘exceptional’, he added: ‘I don’t know why I was surprised; she has always been talented and very creative.’
Elly-May seen here with her son ten-year-old son Dylan
Elsewhere in the interview, Elly-May pays tribute to her parents for ‘saving her life.’
After suffering a brain hemorrhage after being born 14 weeks prematurely she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a toddler.
It has left her in chronic pain and with a limp in her right leg, and she has undergone dozens of surgeries on her legs and back to improve her mobility.
In her new interview Elly-May, who has cerebral palsy pays tribute to her father and mother Jane for saving her life after she was born 14-weeks premature
“They were there from the beginning,’ she says of her parents in the new interview, adding: ‘[They made sure] I stayed alive in that hospital, and every time I’ve been in hospital since. I wouldn’t be here today without them.’
She revealed Jimmy sometimes slept on the hospital floor beside her humidicrib.
Elly-May is the youngest daughter of Cold Chisel singer Jimmy, as he also shares daughters Mahalia, 41, and EJ, 39, and a son Jackie, 38, with his wife Jane.
Jimmy also shares another son, David Campbell, 50, with Kim Campbell, and long-lost daughters Amanda Bennett and Megan Torzyn – who he met in 2010 – from previous relationships.
Jimmy underwent open heart surgery in December, and he recently admitted that he feared he wouldn’t wake up after the procedure (he is pictured after the surgery)
Aussie rocker Jimmy underwent open heart surgery in December, and he recently admitted that he feared he wouldn’t wake up after the procedure.
He was struck down by a life-threatening infection that attacked his heart, and admitted he told his wife Jane that he didn’t think he was going to make it while lying in Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital.
Just hours before checking into hospital, an unwell Jimmy had taken to the stage at a memorial concert for his late friend and promoter, Michael Gudinski.
Elly-May is the youngest daughter of Cold Chisel singer Jimmy, as he also shares daughters Mahalia, 41, and EJ, 39, and a son Jackie, 38, with his wife Jane (pictured)
He admitted he was so unwell that he can barely remember the show and said he was sweating and had a fever backstage.
He was scheduled to fly abroad for a another concert the next morning but instead went to the hospital as his health continued to deteriorate.
A team of specialists discovered his body was shutting down because an infection in his blood was causing endocarditis – a life-threatening inflammation of the heart.
By the time he was wheeled into the operating theatre for a open heart surgery, his doctors said he had just hours to live.
In a marathon seven-hour surgery, the physicians successfully replaced his damaged valves and repaired his heart.
Two months on, his recovery has been going well and he is set to make his live music return on Easter Sunday at the Byron Bay Bluesfest.
