Michael J. Fox’s Guide to Being a Survivor

The ‘Back to the Future’ star has lived with Parkinson’s since 1991, but hasn’t lost any of his spirit or humor

Eric Spitznagel,

AARP

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Published January 15, 2025

Black and white portrait of Michael J. Fox

“If I can accept the truth of ‘This is what I’m facing — not what can I expect but what I am experiencing now’ — then I have all this freedom to do other things,” says Michael J. Fox.

Charlie Clift/Getty Images

Although Michael J. Fox, 63, retired from acting in 2020 after realizing that his Parkinson’s disease was making it difficult to memorize lines, he continues to be a source of inspiration. Bill Lawrence, co-creator of the Apple TV+ hit Shrinking, told People magazine last month that he based Harrison Ford’s on-screen character, who has Parkinson’s, on his longtime friend and colleague Fox.

“I found the first mentor in my life and career, Michael J. Fox, to be so inspiring,” says Lawrence, who worked with Fox on the late ’90 sitcom Spin City. “The way he took (his condition) in stride and continues to work harder than anybody I know.”

The five-time Emmy Award-winning actor, who first became a household name playing Alex P. Keaton on the hit 1980s sitcom Family Ties, thought his time as a public figure might be over after being diagnosed with the incurable degenerative disease in 1991. But he’s done anything but slow down. He launched the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in 2000, which has (thus far) raised $2 billion for Parkinson’s research. Last year, he received a CNN Heroes Legacy Award, and in November he walked the red carpet with his wife and four kids at the A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Cure Parkinson’s event.

With a big year ahead — he was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on Jan. 4 by President Joe Biden, and this summer is the 40th anniversary of Back to the Future, perhaps his most famous movie — we revisited some of our favorite conversations with Fox over the years, dating back to 2006. Here are just a few of the words of wisdom he’s shared with AARP over the last two decades.

A moment of national recognition, captured in the White House.

President Joe Biden awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Michael J. Fox at the White House. The medal is the nation's highest civilian honor.

Tom Brenner/Getty Images

Never let a disease define your life

“Some days are a struggle. Some days are more difficult than others. But the disease is this thing that’s attached to my life — it isn’t the driver.”

Don’t wait for a reason to feel grateful

“I also had an insight about my father-in-law, who had passed away and always espoused gratitude and acceptance and confidence. And I started to notice things I was grateful for and the way other people would respond to difficulty with gratitude. I concluded that gratitude makes optimism sustainable. And if you don’t think you have anything to be grateful for, keep looking. Because you don’t just receive optimism. You can’t wait for things to be great and then be grateful for that. You’ve got to behave in a way that promotes that.”

Choose your battles

“When I was putting on my shoes the other day, (my wife) Tracy said, ‘You want some help with that?’ I said, ‘Well, it will take me a couple of minutes to put my shoes on. If you do it, it’ll take a minute.’ So, you weigh it up.”

It’s healthy to laugh at yourself

“There comes a point where I literally can’t stop laughing at my own symptoms. Just the other morning. I come into the kitchen. Oh, good, coffee. I’m gonna get some! No, wait — I’m gonna get some for Tracy — who’s at the table with the paper. I pour a cup — a little trouble there. Then I put both hands around the cup. She’s watching. ‘Can I get that for you, dear?’ ‘Nah, I got it!’ Then I begin this trek across the kitchen. It starts off bad. Only gets worse. Hot java’s sloshing onto my hands, onto the floor. And Tracy’s watching calmly, going, ‘Darling, why don’t you [emphatic expletive] let me get it?‘ ’ I’m almost there, babe!’ Of course, by the time I reach the table, the cup’s all but empty. 'Here’s your coffee, dear — enjoy!'"

Love the person you used to be

“I used to avoid watching myself on the TV shows I did when I was much younger, because I was healthier then and showed no signs of Parkinson’s. But I wondered about (boxing legend Muhammad) Ali, whom I had become friendly with. He’d been such a beautiful athlete before Parkinson’s. So, after he died, I asked his wife, Lonnie, if he ever watched recordings of his fights. ‘He watched for hours,’ she said. ‘He loved it!’ And I thought, yeah, I should love it, too.”

Half the battle is just showing up

Fox’s father, Bill, was a career officer in the Canadian army, and he recalls talking to his uncles about their exploits during World War II. “I’d say, ‘I don’t know how you could fight in a war — the minute someone fired a shot I’d throw down my gun and be gone. How do you not do that?’ And they said, ‘You just don’t. You show up and do what you need to do.’ To a much less dramatic degree, that’s what I do. I don’t have the luxury of saying this isn’t something I’m going to participate in. I can rationalize that and say I didn’t have the choice. But still, there’s always a moment of surprise that I didn’t throw down my gun and run away.”

It’s OK to not always be positive

“I’m now out of the lemonade business. I’m really blunt with people about cures. When they ask me if I will be relieved of Parkinson’s in my lifetime, I say, ‘I’m 60 years old, and science is hard. So, no.’”

Even if you starred on a hit TV show, it probably won’t impress your kids

“My youngest, Esmé, has been getting into crosswords. A few days ago, one of the clues was ‘Michael’s role in Family Ties.’ I got all excited and said, ‘You know that!’ She said, 'What, is that you?’ ‘Uh, yeah. That was me. With a role. In Family Ties. … Young Republican? … Ronald Reagan’s favorite show?’ She still drew a blank. So I told her: ‘Alex. A-l-e-x.…’ She asked, 'Who’s ‘Alex?’”

Acceptance isn’t the same thing as defeatism

“My happiness grows in direct proportion [to] my acceptance and in inverse proportion to my expectations. That’s the key for me. If I can accept the truth of ‘This is what I’m facing — not what can I expect but what I am experiencing now’ — then I have all this freedom to do other things.”

If you’re lucky, you might inspire people in unexpected ways

“A lot of really great guitarists have come up to me over the years and said they picked up the guitar because of the ‘Johnny B. Goode’ scene in Back to the Future. If I did anything in this life, I got John Mayer to pick up the guitar!”

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