From the Archive: Michael J. Fox’s Challenging New Role

—From “Michael J. Fox’s Challenging New Role” by Patrick Perry, from the September 2000, issue of The Saturday Evening Post

Michael J. Fox’s battle with Parkinson’s began in 1991. The actor was on location in Florida filming the movie Doc Hollywood when he began to notice a persistent “twitch” in his left pinkie that just wouldn’t go away. In six months, the twitch had spread to his entire hand, and for some reason, his shoulder had become achy and stiff. After consulting a neurologist and undergoing tests, the 30-year-old was told that he was suffering from the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. u

Further tests and more opinions confirmed the diagnosis. For years, he kept his symptoms private. His career progressed, and so did his disease. Eventually, the tremors affected his entire left side, becoming so uncontrollable at times that, he later told a reporter, he “could mix a margarita in five seconds.”

In September 1998, Fox went public with his Parkinson’s, talking candidly about his private seven-year battle with the disease.

“For those seven years, I had kept my P.D. close, as I’d been taught to keep all my enemies close. That was how I viewed the disease — as my own personal nemesis,” Fox wrote on his website. “I’d made it a private battle, a knife fight in a dark closet. I already had the love and understanding of my wife, Tracy; our kids; our extended family; and the unflinching support of friends, doctors, and coworkers. What I craved was the company of other people with Parkinson’s and the freedom to move around in the world without having to hide my symptoms.

“I don’t kid myself … that will change. Physical and mental exhaustion will become more and more of a factor, as will increased rigidity, tremor, and dyskinesia. I can expect in my 40s to face challenges most wouldn’t expect until their 70s or 80s, if ever.”

This article is featured in the July/August 2024 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.