Over the past three decades, the beloved actor has fought Parkinson’s disease, and as one might expect, the battle does not get any easier with time.
Instead, the enduring Back to the Future actor recently opened up to fans to provide an update on his health and revealed that a combination of his disease, a string of broken bones, and the death of his mother has left him struggling.
Fox even admitted that recent events have made him lose his customary sense of optimism and a positive approach on life.
The actor, now 61, announced his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis for the first time in 1998, despite rumours that he received the news from doctors as early as 1991, when he was only 29 years old.
Since then, Fox has devoted her life to raising awareness of the illness and advancing research towards a treatment. As a well-known supporter of other Parkinson’s patients, he founded The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and continued to act in movies and on television.
However, in a recent interview with People Magazine, Fox acknowledged that during the previous year, things had become noticeably more challenging.
According to Fox, things got worse after He injured his cheek, hand, shoulder, had a prosthetic shoulder put in, broke his right arm, and elbow.
“I’m feeling it a little bit more now that I’m 61,”
When he was able to enter the stage unassisted for a Back to the Future reunion, the celebrity recently made news. He displayed the passion and enthusiasm for which he is renowned as he stood next to Christopher Lloyd and waved to the crowd.
Before a panel where they reviewed the science fiction comedy, which debuted 37 years ago, the two shared an emotional hug.
Fox, though, has acknowledged that lately things have been so difficult for him that he has lost a lot of his typical fire.
In the People interview, he admitted, “I was never really a grouchy guy, but I was quite cranky and harsh with people.
I attempt to stop it before it starts. I never forget about the assistants I work with.
And I frequently tell them, “Imagine I said ‘please’ at the beginning and ‘thank you’ at the finish of whatever I say.
Just give yourself a moment to process that I might have said it if I were more myself, but I wasn’t, so I’m sorry.
To make matters worse, Fox just lost his mother, Phyllis, who passed away at the age of 92.
He said, “It’s been a challenge, but I’m glad.
“I say it because I think that individuals can find happiness despite their circumstances on some degree,”
Fox, who will formally stop acting in 2020, recently discussed how Parkinson’s disease made it difficult for him to remember his lines while acting.
“When I did the spinoff from The Good Wife, which is The Good Fight, I couldn’t remember the lines. I just had this blank, I couldn’t remember the lines,” he recently said on the Working It Out podcast.
In the past, memorising lines had come naturally to him, and he recalled those times by saying, “I knew it, like in an instant, and it continued to be that way for me. On a [Brian] De Palma film, I would have to memorise 70 pages of dialogue while also being aware that a pricey Steadicam shot depends on my ability to do so.
Over the years, the actor has spoken openly about his optimism, telling AARP:
“Optimism is tenable if you can discover something to be thankful for. At 60, I simply feel that, despite this burden I carry every day, I adore my life, my wife, and my children. Parkinson’s is simply this factor that is a part of my life. Not the driver, actually. As much as I can, I try to share my good fortune.
No matter what anyone says, I believe Michael J. Fox to be a role model and an inspiration to millions of people.
I only hope that despite everything he’s going through, he may find some level of solace. I can only imagine how challenging it must be for him to maintain his optimism in the face of hardship.
