Roger Ebert is lifting the lid on what his life looks like since he lost his ability to speak four years ago. The Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic now writes review for The Chicago Sun-Times, but he first found fame on the small screen — where he coined the phrase “Two Thumbs Up” with late partner Gene Siskel. In an interview with Esquire Magazine this month, Ebert reveals how he communicates without his voice. In addition to creating his own form of sign language, Mr. Ebert also relies heavily on Post-It notes and to show that he is laughing, he closes his eyes and slaps both hands on his knees.
Esquire also released a new photo of the native Chicagoan, which reveals the effects of drastic reconstructive surgeries on his jaw since his diagnosis with thyroid cancer in 2002, which was followed by a malignant tumor on his jaw four years later. The surgeries were so difficult that he refuses to go under the knife any more — but Egbert notes that his mouth is now shaped into a permanent smile and there is “no need to pity” him.
He writes: “There is no need to pity me…Look how happy I am…..I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.”