David Lynch has enjoyed smoking most of his life, but his habit has caused serious health problems.

The Mulholland Drive filmmaker, who started smoking at age 8 and quit at age 76, says he now requires supplemental oxygen for any physical activity aside from walking across the room, following his 2020 emphysema diagnosis.

“In the back of every smoker’s mind is the fact that it’s healthy, so you’re literally playing with fire,” he told PEOPLE in a new interview. ‘He can bite you. I took a chance and got bit.”

Lynch was not able to completely quit smoking until two years after his diagnosis. “I saw a writing on the wall and it said, ‘You’re going to die in a week if you don’t stop,’” he said. Twin peaks said the mastermind. “I could barely move without gasping for air. Stopping was my only choice.”

His condition, which causes intense shortness of breath, means he will not be able to return to directing on set – although he may explore directing remotely. “It’s hard living with emphysema,” Lynch said. “I can barely walk across a room. It’s like walking around with a plastic bag around your head.”

Lynch also revealed that he rarely leaves the house at the moment. “I’ve never really liked going out, so it’s a nice excuse,” he joked. But if he could do it all over again, he probably wouldn’t have quit smoking sooner. “I don’t regret it. It was important to me. I wish what every addict wishes: for what we love to be good for us.”

He continued: “I loved the smell of tobacco, the taste of tobacco. I loved lighting cigarettes. It was part of being a painter and a filmmaker for me.” He also noted that he has no problem depicting smoking on screen: “I’ve never thought about glorifying it,” he said. “It was part of life. Some characters smoked, just like in real life.”

But he hopes his story will inspire other smokers to quit before it’s too late. “I really wanted to get this across: Think about it. You can stop doing these things that will eventually kill you,” he said. “I owe it to them – and to myself – to say that.”

Lynch’s last feature film was in 2006 Home Empirewhich reunited him with his frequent collaborator Laura Dern in a nightmarish, non-linear saga set against the backdrop of a cursed Hollywood production. His last major directorial project was in 2017 Twin Peaks: The Returnan 18-episode Showtime sequel to the ABC mystery drama that made him a household name in the early 1990s. An occasional actor, Lynch made his final film appearance in a one-scene appearance in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans in 2022.

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