Beloved Canadian actor Michael J. Fox reflected on maintaining a positive outlook following his Parkinson’s diagnosis, calling it a “tremendous privilege” to support the Parkinson’s community through his charitable foundation, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
Fox, 64, stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to discuss his memoir Future Boy, which was released on Oct. 14, and to raise awareness for the disease.
“2025 marks 25 years of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which has raised over $2.5 billion for Parkinson’s disease,” Colbert said. “How does that feel to you to know that, that is such a huge part of your legacy?”
Fox said when he was diagnosed, he “took some time to solve it for myself for seven years” before deciding to go public with it.
“People’s response was so good, and then I realized the overwhelming force of that and all the energy focused on that, like I could tune it up and take that, and turn it into something positive,” Fox said.
Colbert told Fox that he’s not only admired for raising funds for research for the disease but also for remaining in the public eye and being a face for Parkinson’s.
“It’s really important that I don’t show up and say nothing if I have something to say, to show up and say it because people that had Parkinson’s for years were stigmatized,” Fox said. “So now to represent them, and to be a place marker in society and claim this ground for us … I’m so flattered by it. I’m so humbled by it.”
“But it’s not about me. It’s about all these families and people that want change and want things to get better and want to be healthy.”
During his sit-down conversation with Colbert on Oct. 21, Fox also discussed what it was like juggling filming Back to the Future and the popular sitcom Family Ties at the same time.
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“You were playing Alex P. Keaton by day on Family Ties. Full day of shooting on one soundstage and then Back to the Future at night,” Colbert said.
“The teamsters come pick me up, throw me in the shower, get me a cup of coffee,” Fox recalled.
He said that he would drink his coffee in the shower and then grab a milkshake on the way to set, only surviving on three to four hours of sleep for three months.
“I was 23 years old and I was too stupid to know better,” Fox said.
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 at the age of 29 and founded the non-profit in 2000 to fund research for a cure and to improve therapies for those living with the disease.
Parkinson’s is a disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects one’s motor functions. The condition causes gradual damage to parts of a person’s brain, resulting in numerous symptoms, including tremors, slow movement and stiff and inflexible muscles. There is no cure.
In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning in 2023, Fox said the degenerative condition has made aging a challenge. He described Parkinson’s as a “gift that keeps on taking.”
“It sucks having Parkinson’s,” Fox told interviewer Jane Pauley. “It’s getting tougher, it’s getting harder, every day you suffer, but that’s the way it is.”
Fox said Parkinson’s has led to several injuries over the years, including breaking bones in his face and other parts of his body, and the discovery of a benign tumour on his spine.
He clarified that people do not die directly of Parkinson’s disease, but Fox wasn’t naive to his own mortality either.
“I’m not going to be 80. I won’t be 80,” Fox said.
He claimed that falling, aspirating food and pneumonia can all be seen as “big” killers for those with Parkinson’s.
“I recognize how hard this is for people and recognize how hard it is for me, but I have a certain set of skills that allow me to deal with this stuff, and I realize, with gratitude, optimism is sustainable,” he explained. “If you can find something to be grateful for, then you find something to look forward to, and you carry on.”
Fox officially retired from acting in 2020, but recently revealed he’ll be guest-starring in an episode of TV show Shrinking in 2026.
In November 2023, he was given an honorary Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, for his philanthropic efforts in Parkinson’s research. The award is given to an “individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry,” according to The Academy’s website.
— With files from Global News
‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ airs weeknights on Global TV at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT.
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