Michael J Fox has opened up about death in a poignant interview about his battle with Parkinson’s disease.
The Back to the Future star, 64, was diagnosed with the progressive neurodegenerative disorder in 1991 at the age of 29.
In a new interview, Michael gave an update on his health and shared his hopes for a pain-free passing after his 35-year battle with the disease.
“There are not many people who have had Parkinson’s for 35 years,” he told The Times. “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.”
Michael revealed he has now lost the ability to play his guitar and detailed the array of injuries he has sustained in recent years.
Parkinson’s is a long-term neurological condition that affects movement, balance, and other motor functions over time.
“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,” he shared.
“I broke my other shoulder, had it replaced. I broke my cheekbone.”
He described Parkinson’s as “enigmatic” and said there is no way of predicting its progression as he candidly opened up on his health.
Michael was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease when he was 29 years old, after first noticing a tremor in his finger while filming Doc Hollywood.
He didn’t publicly reveal his diagnosis until 1998, and now does substantial work in raising awareness around the disease.
The Hollywood star was originally told he only had 10 years left to work, but he continued to act until his retirement in 2020.
“The hardest part of my diagnosis was grappling with the certainty of the diagnosis and the uncertainty of the situation,” he said in 2022 while accepting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
He set up a non-profit organisation, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, in a bid to find a cure, and released a memoir, Future Boy, on October 14, 2025.
His wife, Tracy Pollan, has been an unwavering pillar of support for Michael over the years through his health woes.
“At any time, she would have been forgiven to say, ‘I’m just gonna step out.’ But, she didn’t do that,” Michael told CBS Mornings.
The couple celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary in July, and they share four children: son Sam, twins Aquinnah and Schulyer, and daughter Esme.
