For over thirty years, Michael J. Fox has faced Parkinson’s disease with honesty and courage. Now 62, the Back to the Future star is confronting the hardest truth yet: time is no longer on his side.
Diagnosed at 29, Fox turned his struggle into purpose, founding the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which has raised over a billion dollars for research. Behind the optimism, though, is a life of surgeries, broken bones, and growing physical limits. Even simple tasks are difficult, but he keeps showing up, humor intact.
Fox admits each day is tougher and doubts he’ll reach 80—not in defeat, but with clear-eyed realism. Director Davis Guggenheim calls his endurance both heartbreaking and inspiring. Fox views Parkinson’s as both a thief and a teacher, revealing new depths of strength and perspective.
He’s battled depression and the loss of independence, yet refuses to give up. His wit and resilience remind others that dignity and joy can coexist with pain. Beyond the billions raised, his real legacy is his example: facing decline with humor, truth, and courage.
Parkinson’s keeps progressing, but Fox continues forward, unflinching. He’s no longer just the actor who time-traveled on screen, but the man who defies time itself. As he’s said, the disease shapes his life but doesn’t define it—and that’s how he wants to be remembered.