Michael J Fox left the Baftas auditorium in tears last night and now a heartbreaking interview from last year has resurfaced in which he opened up about living with Parkinson’s disease.
The Back to the Future legend, 62, took to the Royal Festival Hall stage last night in a wheelchair to a standing ovation from the audience and with some assistance, he stood and presented the crowning best film award to Oppenheimer.
The acting veteran, who rarely makes such public appearances, was met with an outpouring of love on social media for being an ‘inspiration’ after he was diagnosed with the chronic neurodegenerative disease in 1991 when he was just 29 years old.
Parkinson’s means the brain becomes progressively damaged over the years, and there is no cure.
In June last year Michael fell over on stage during a Back to the Future Q&A panel, making his Baftas appearance all the more impressive.
In a video interview that’s now resurfaced, chatting on CBS News last year Michael said he’s not going to make it to 80, after Parkinson’s left him with five broken bones from repeated falls.
One of the most famous actors to burst onto the scene in the 1980s, Michael J. Fox has become almost as famous for his very public fight against Parkinson’s disease. (This story was originally broadcast on April 30, 2023.) https://t.co/B9bnR1D4wn pic.twitter.com/rwhIalH4ZO
— CBS Sunday Morning ð (@CBSSunday) August 5, 2023
‘I had spinal surgery and it messed up my walking, and I started to break stuff,’ he explained.
‘Falling is a big killer with Parkinson’s,’ Michael said. ‘Falling and aspirating food and getting pneumonia, all those subtle ways it gets you.’
The Teen Wolf star continued: ‘You don’t die from Parkinson’s, you die with Parkinson’s. I’ve been thinking about mortality a bit.
‘I’m not going to be 80,’ he said, repeating this once more.
Over the years, the Canadian-born actor has been open about his journey with the disease.
In 2000, he foundedThe Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research, which explains how the disease can cause ‘tremor, slowness, stiffness, walking and balance problems’, with symptoms ‘slowly worsening over time’.
Earlier this month, Michael appeared on BBC Breakfast to talk about his diagnosis, and his 2023 documentary, Still: A Michael J Fox Movie, which was nominated for a Bafta but lost out to 20 Days In Mariupol.
He explained how his film tells ‘stories about resilience and hope’ as ‘an incurable optimist meets an incurable disease’.
Through his foundation and openness about his condition, Michael has helped improve the lives of many people living with Parkinson’s, whereas as the actor noted, when he was diagnosed there was little guidance out there on what to expect.
‘I would say it’s a gift. People would look at me and go, “It’s the gift that keeps on taking,” but it’s a gift,’ he said in the interview of his diagnosis.
‘I realised I had to turn it into something and make it some positive thing that affected other people in a positive way. So I did, I started a foundation, but it took me a long time to get there.’
It took Michael seven years to go public with his diagnosis, which came in quick succession after a number of other huge life events, including his marriage to wife Tracy Pollan in 1988, and the birth of his first son Sam, who they welcomed a year later.
The year before his diagnosis, Michael’s father died of a heart attack.
What are the symptoms of Parkinson's disease?
TheNHSlists the three main symptoms of Parkinson’s as:
- Slow movement
- Inflexible and stiff muscles
- Involuntary tremors of particular parts of the body
Someone with Parkinson’s can also develop other symptoms, such as:
- Problems with memory
- Problems with balance
- Insomnia
- Depression and anxiety
- A loss of sense of smell
Most of those who are diagnosed with Parkinson’s are aged 50 or older, but younger people have been known to suffer from it as well.
There is currently no cure for Parkinson’s disease.
Treatment can typically involve medication, supportive therapy like occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and in some cases brain surgery.
Still with his wife of 35 years, Michael said in a November interview he would have forgiven Tracy for leaving him over the difficulties of coping with the disease.
‘She was able to get me through it, and go through it with me. And she has for 35 years,’ he told Nate Burleson in an interview, again on CBS Mornings.
Discussing his symptoms, Michael added: ‘We knew the bus was coming and it was going to hit, but we didn’t know how far away it was, or how fast it was going.
‘At any time, she would have been forgiven [for saying], “I’m just going to step out.” But she didn’t do that.’
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