Joni Mitchell 'able to speak well' says friend

Joni Mitchell did have an aneurysm in March but is able to speak, a friend who acts as her conservator has said.

Leslie Morris's update on the Canadian singer's condition follows an interview with US musician David Crosby, in which he said she was still unable to speak.

"The truth is that Joni is speaking, and she's speaking well," said Morris on Mitchell's official website, external.

"She is resting comfortably in her own home and she's getting better each day. A full recovery is expected."

Mitchell, 71, was found unconscious in her Los Angeles home on 31 March and taken to hospital.

A statement released on her website a few days later said the singer was "resting comfortably".

Speaking to The Huffington Post, external, Crosby - who dated Mitchell in 1967 - said she had had an aneurysm and was "not speaking yet".

"She's going to have to struggle back from it the way you struggle back from a traumatic brain injury," the singer continued.

His comments prompted the rebuttal on Mitchell's website that claimed the "details that have emerged in the past few days [were] mostly speculative".

The statement, "approved" by Morris, said the singer was "not walking yet" but would be walking "in the near future as she is undergoing daily therapies".

Morris was appointed Mitchell's conservator in May when a judge ruled the singer was unable to make health care decisions for herself.