The beloved Hollywood star Michael J. Fox of Family Ties and Back To The Future fame has been battling Parkinson’s disease for the past 35 years. Now, Fox is speaking out to talk about how he eventually wants to die.
Fox Reveals How He Wants To Die
Fox, 64, opened up about his future in a new interview with The Times.
“There’s no timeline, there’s no series of stages that you go through — not in the same way that you would, say, with prostate cancer,” Fox said. “It’s much more mysterious and enigmatic.”
“There are not many people who have had Parkinson’s for 35 years,” he continued. “I’d like to just not wake up one day. That’d be really cool. I don’t want it to be dramatic. I don’t want to trip over furniture, smash my head.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Parkinson’s disease is a movement disorder of the nervous system that worsens over time. The nervous system is a network of nerve cells that controls many parts of the body, including movement.”
Despite the debilitating impact of Parkinson’s disease, Fox has still been able to continue working over the years. He did this after a doctor told him that continuing to act might help him fight the symptoms of Parkinson’s.
“It was helpful, to a point,” Fox explained. “And that’s [the point] where I break stuff. It’s absolutely incredible the stuff I broke. In a three-year period, I broke my elbow, I broke my hand, I got a big infection in my hand and I almost lost my finger.”
‘It Has Been Just Like A Tragedy…’
Fox eventually lost the ability to play his beloved guitar. He now keeps it next to his office desk.
“It’s terrible,” he lamented. “I had all these little bones broken, and it got infected, and they had to cut the bones out because the bones got infected. I broke my other shoulder, had it replaced. I broke my cheekbone. I had a plate here. I’m missing something? It has been just like a tragedy.”
“I take it easy now,” Fox continued. “I don’t walk that much anymore. I can walk but it’s not pretty and it’s a bit dangerous. So I just roll that into my life, you know — no pun intended.”
Fox was only 21 years-old when he skyrocketed to fame on the sitcom Family Ties, which ran from 1982 until 1989. He won three Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe for his work on the sitcom.
In 1985, Fox achieved international fame when he starred as Marty McFly in the hit movie Back To The Future. He went on to reprise the role in two sequels.
Fox Attends Fan Convention
A few years ago, Fox made a rare public appearance when he attended a convention for Back To The Future.
“I thought, well, I’ll do this for the fans,” Fox recalled. “I realized — no, it wasn’t for them, it was for me.”
“I wanted to express my gratitude to them,” he concluded. “They’ve given me so much, my life is so amazing. The disease sucks, but … people don’t feel sorry for me. They don’t think I’m pathetic. They see me as – well, I couldn’t tell you how they see me, but I sense that they see me as a positive force.”
These days, Fox is still overcoming Parkinson’s by continuing to act. Indeed, he’s set to appear in the upcoming third season of Apple TV+’s Shrinking.
Fox is a true living legend, and there will never be another like him. He continues to be an inspiration to millions with his determination to fight Parkinson’s with everything he has. While we can appreciate that Fox doesn’t want a “dramatic” death, we also hope that he doesn’t pass away anytime soon.
God bless you, Michael J. Fox!