Michael J. Fox's Health Journey: Inside the Actor's Life Since His Parkinson's Diagnosis
Michael J. Fox's Health Journey: Inside the Actor's Life Since His Parkinson's Diagnosis
Caroline BlairMon, March 2, 2026 at 8:43 PM UTC
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Michael J. Fox attends Netflix's May December New York Tastemaker Screening at The Whitby Hotel on November 28, 2023 in New York City.Credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty for Netflix -
Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease when he was 29 years old in 1991
He opened up about his diagnosis for the first time in an interview with PEOPLE in 1998
Fox has made it his life's mission to advocate for research for Parkinson's disease through his Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
Michael J. Fox was just 29 years old when he received a life-changing health diagnosis.
In 1991, the Family Ties actor was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson's disease after he began experiencing symptoms like soreness and twitching. After learning about the shocking diagnosis, Fox initially struggled to accept it and kept it private for seven years while continuing to act.
Fox shared his diagnosis publicly in 1998 and founded his organization, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, two years later. In the nearly three decades since, his foundation has raised over $2 billion and made significant strides in researching the progressive neurodegenerative disorder.
The award-winning actor also incorporated his diagnosis in future acting roles in hopes of continuing to promote research. Although he's been open about his struggles with Parkinson's, he's continued to see the positive.
“I keep getting new challenges physically, and I get through it. I roll around in a wheelchair a lot, and it took some getting used to,” he told PEOPLE in October 2025. “You take the good, and you seize it."
Here's everything to know about Michael J. Fox's health journey with Parkinson's disease over the years.
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at age 29 in 1991
Michael J. Fox on July 30, 1991 visits 'Larry King Live' at CNN Building in Hollywood, California.Credit: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty
Fox was one of the biggest stars in the '80s and '90s after starring on the hit sitcom Family Ties and the film trilogy Back to the Future. However, while he was filming Doc Hollywood in 1991, he developed a tremor in his pinky finger and saw a neurologist, per his foundation's website.
The doctor diagnosed him with early-onset Parkinson's disease at the age of 29 years old.
At the time of the diagnosis, Fox had been married to his Family Ties costar Tracy Pollan since 1988, and they welcomed their first child, son Sam, the following year. Fox later admitted that the diagnosis left him feeling depressed, and he initially began drinking to cope with it.
"My first reaction to it was to start drinking heavily,” he said in 2013. “I used to drink to party, but now I was drinking alone and every day. Once I did that, it was then about a year of like a knife fight in a closet, where I just didn’t have my tools to deal with it."
Fox subsequently attended Alcoholics Anonymous and saw a therapist, which helped him stop drinking.
He kept his illness private and acted in several movies, including For Love or Money, The American President and Frighteners. As for his personal life, he and Pollan welcomed twin daughters, Aquinnah and Schuyler, in 1995. They welcomed their fourth child, daughter Esmé, in 2001.
He went public with his diagnosis in 1998
Michael J Fox at the Golden Globes Awards, Beverly Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles, California, January 18th 1998.Credit: Vinnie Zuffante/Archive Photos/Getty
After coping with the diagnosis privately for seven years, Fox publicly announced the update to his health in a 1998 PEOPLE cover story.
Fox's doctor also participated in the interview and told PEOPLE at the time that he was "hopeful that Fox will be functional for at least another 10 years and maybe well into old age."
In addition to his PEOPLE cover story, Fox also spoke with Barbara Walters in a 1998 interview where he shared that he didn't feel defined by the limitations of the disease.
More than two decades after sharing his diagnosis, Fox reflected on his decision to go public and admitted that he was "really nervous" ahead of the publication.
"What I believed then and what I believe now, I might not put it in the same words, but you can do anything. Anything," he told PEOPLE in 2024. "You don't have to follow other people's prognostications for what life is going to be. Life's going to be what you make it."
Fox founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research in 2000
Michael J. Fox at the 'Back to the Future' reunion at MegaCon Orlando 2024 in February 2024.Credit: Gerardo Mora/Getty
Fox took it upon himself to be a leader in the Parkinson's research community and founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in 2000. When he created the organization, he had the goal of finding a cure by raising money for scientific research.
"It seemed straightforward to me,” he said of the beginning in a 2023 interview with Town & Country. “I’m a short kid from Canada who at 17 moved to another country and somehow within five years was a millionaire. I’m of the mind that anything you want to do you can do.”
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Fox went on to hire former Goldman Sachs vice president Deborah Brooks as CEO, and they have been working together since. They have gone on to turn the foundation into the world's largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson's research, raising over $2.5 billion as of February 2026.
"I know we’ve done a lot, but we haven’t cured Parkinson’s,” Fox told TIME in February 2026. “I’m always pushing and never happy until we get this done. We’ve changed the way people think about the disease, and we know there’s an end, and we’ll find it.”
He acted more sporadically since officially retiring in 2000
Michael J. Fox attends "A Country Thing Happened On The Way To Cure Parkinson's" benefitting The Michael J. Fox Foundation at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts on April 16, 2025.Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty
At the same time that Fox was getting his foundation off the ground, he also decided to take a break from acting. Although he had initially planned on leaving the field entirely, he returned to acting in more sporadic roles.
In 2004, he appeared in two episodes of Scrubs, where he played a surgeon with severe OCD, and he portrayed a lung cancer patient in four episodes of Boston Legal in 2006. He went on to appear in Rescue Me — which scored him an Emmy award — The Good Wife and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Fox also starred in the NBC sitcom, The Michael J. Fox Show, which was loosely based on his life and real diagnosis with Parkinson's. The show aired for one season, from 2013 to 2014.
Although he retired from acting for a second time in 2020, he slowly reemerged in a few television series and movies. Fox played Parkinson's patient Gerry in season 3 of Shrinking, which was released in January 2026.
In addition to his scripted roles, Fox starred in the 2023 documentary, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, where he spoke about his career and diagnosis.
Fox underwent a risky surgery to remove a spinal tumor in 2018, which led to his "darkest moment"
Michael J. Fox on the red carpet of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Cure Parkinson's benefitting The Michael J. Fox Foundation at the Hilton New York on November 10, 2018.Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty
Amid his continued struggles with Parkinson's, Fox faced an unrelated health setback in 2018. Fox revealed that doctors found a noncancerous tumor on his spine that was painful and quickly developing.
"I was heading for paralysis if I didn’t get it operated on,” Fox told PEOPLE in 2020. "[The tumor] was constricting the [spinal] cord, so they had to be very careful in removing it so they wouldn’t do further damage."
Fox underwent the risky surgery, and it was successful, but it came with a challenging four-month recovery process where he had to relearn how to walk. In the midst of his recovery, he fell and broke his arm.
"That was definitely my darkest moment,” Fox recalled to PEOPLE. “I just snapped. I was leaning against the wall in my kitchen, waiting for the ambulance to come, and I felt like, ‘This is as low as it gets for me.’ It was when I questioned everything. Like, 'I can't put a shiny face on this. There's no bright side to this, no upside. This is just all regret and pain.' "
Fox was subsequently confined to his bed and used the time to return to a more optimistic outlook.
"Optimism is really rooted in gratitude," he said. "Optimism is sustainable when you keep coming back to gratitude, and what follows from that is acceptance."
Fox views his diagnosis as a "gift that keeps on taking" and has continued attending events promoting research
Michael J. Fox at the Actor Awards on March 1, 2026Credit: Netflix
Fox has reflected on living with Parkinson's for more than half of his life, while also continuing to further research through his foundation. In November 2020, he told The Guardian that he was in the advanced stages of the disease and could no longer play guitar or write and struggled with forming words.
Despite his diagnosis worsening over the years, Fox has maintained that it has been a "privilege" to spread the word and encourage research.
“The more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a privilege, and in a way, a gift,” he told TIME in February 2026. “It’s a gift that keeps on taking, but if I look at the positive side of it … this is a role that I fell into and I found myself uniquely qualified to fulfill."
He added, "Now people say, ‘I have what Michael Fox has.’ Parkinson’s patients now have an identity, and they don’t have shame.”
As for the future of the disease, Fox reiterated that he'd "like to see a world without Parkinson’s, and I think that will happen. I think in 30, 40 years, this will be done. Optimism is a powerful thing.”
While Fox has taken steps out of the spotlight since his diagnosis, he has also maintained a public presence at certain events. On March 1, Fox stepped out for the 2026 Actor Awards and spoke during the annual "I Am an Actor" segment.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
