Michael J Fox was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease in 1991, when he was just 29 years old. Since then, he’s battled the disorder, continued to act, and worked tirelessly to raise money for research. At 61, however, he says Parkinson’s is “banging on the door.”
“I’m not gonna lie. It’s getting hard, it’s getting harder. It’s getting tougher. Every day it’s tougher,” Fox told CBS Sunday Morning. “But that’s the way it is. I mean, who do I see about that?”
Explaining that “You don’t die from Parkinson’s, you die with Parkinson’s,” Fox said that the degenerative brain disorder causes other issues like falling, aspirating food, and getting pneumonia. “I had spinal surgery. I had a tumor on my spine. And it was benign, but it messed up my walking,” the actor recalled. “And then, [I] started to break stuff. Broke this arm, and I broke this arm, I broke this elbow. I broke my face. I broke my hand.”
“All these subtle ways that get ya,” Fox continued. “So I’ve been thinking about the mortality of it … I’m not gonna be 80. I’m not gonna be 80.”
Fox’s CBS Sunday Mornings interview premieres Sunday, April 30th at 9:00 a.m. ET. Check out a preview clip below.
In 2000, Fox created the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which has raised over $1 billion to research therapies for those with the disease. In 2020, he retired from acting for the second time due to his worsening symptoms of the disorder.
Actor Michael J. Fox, 61, was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s disease in 1991 when he was just 29. Fox tells Jane Pauley that dealing with the incurable disease is getting more challenging, and he can’t imagine living until he’s 80. More this ‘Sunday Morning.’ pic.twitter.com/hE7KeTiDUi
— CBS Sunday Morning ? (@CBSSunday) April 28, 2023