20 years ago, sick with Parkinson's, Michael J. Fox stopped his career

"I look like a kid, but I have an old man's illness," he said. Beneath his air of an eternal young man, Michael J. Fox has long hidden an intimate fight against time. For ten years, the actor secretly battled Parkinson's disease. In the spring of 2000, the star of "Back to the future" must face the facts, he can no longer control his tremors. In May, he shoots a final episode of his excellent sitcom "Spin City", which won him three Golden Globes and an Emmy. At only 38 years old, he must end his career.

Which isn't to say that Michael J. Fox has thrown in the towel. The fight continued in another ring, that of disease awareness and medical research funding. A ring on which the actor found the great Mohamed Ali, also sick. But the greatest ally of Michael J. Fox will remain his wife, Tracy Pollan, constantly at his side to support him.

Michael J. Fox still allows himself a few appearances on the big and small screen, as in the series “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, where he played with his illness. Humor, the best weapon.

Here is the report devoted to Michael J. Fox, initially published in Paris Match in 2000…

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Michael J. Fox, the man-child overcome by the evil of old age

from our correspondent in the United States, Romain Clergeat

He shot his last episode of the television series “Spin City”. Michael J. Fox can no longer control his tremors. "I look like a kid, he said, but I have an old man's disease." The eternal young man made his debut on Canadian television at the age of 15 and conquered Hollywood at the age of 21 with the “Back to the Future” trilogy. Films and television series follow one another when, in 1991, the first symptoms appear: spasms of the little finger of the left hand. Encouraged by his wife, Tracy, he pursued his acting life for as long as Parkinson's disease allowed. At 38, married and father of three children, Michael is now courageously devoting himself to the fight against this still incurable disease. He created a foundation to finance medical research. The path of hope.

The limo was turning onto Sunset Boulevard when Michael J. Fox realized it was happening again. Outside, reporters and photographers had flocked to greet the star of ABC's sitcom "Spin City," but Fox was in no condition to meet them. With Tracy, his wife, he had barely arrived in front of the Beverly Hilton, where the Golden Globe Awards ceremony was taking place, when a new crisis began: his left leg and arm were in uncontrollable spasms. Behind the smoked car windows, Tracy held her husband's hand and began massaging his foot. Gradually, the upheavals subsided. But both knew it was only a temporary respite. We had to wait for the drugs to work. Fox asked the driver to go around the block for the first time. Then a second, and a third. The crisis was over. By getting out of the limo, the hero of “Back to the future” could once again display his youthful physique as a little prince of Hollywood. Momentarily...

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At 38, the star of "Spin City" has Parkinson's disease and can no longer hide the nature of his illness. That evening, while going up to receive the Best TV Performer of the Year Award, Michael J. Fox announced that this season would be his last. “When starting the series, I had put the producers in the confidence. I couldn't guarantee them what my condition would be in three years. They trusted me and I had promised myself to do one hundred episodes. I am stubborn and I wanted to keep my word. I quit not because I can't anymore, but because this disease forced me to revise my priorities. Now I want to focus on my family.” For his farewell to the screen, the scriptwriters of the series had written him a tailor-made finale in which his character as adviser to the mayor of New York abandons his functions and thanks all his collaborators with a: “It will be fine. Do not worry." On the set but also in the American cottages, we cried a lot. This last episode has also collected its highest rating in three years, with 33 million viewers.

Michael J. Fox isn't the only personality in the country to be stricken with Parkinson's disease; Muhammad Ali, Pastor Graham and the current attorney general, Janet Reno, are also victims, like 1 million lesser-known Americans. But if his case particularly moved America, it is undoubtedly because this cherub of comedy had retained an adolescent face which seemed to give him immunity to a disease statistically reserved for over 60s. (Only 10% of patients with this disease are under the age of 40.) According to his neurologist, he has reached the end of the first cycle of the disease (it is divided into three phases: mild, medium and severe) . Thanks to the medication he takes daily, he can, according to his doctor, hope to lead a more or less normal life for ten years. If, on the other hand, the evil were to accelerate, he would then be condemned to receive care 24 hours a day, nailed to a bed, deprived of all autonomy. "I don't see this as a tragedy," Fox said. It's just my reality. Sometimes I see some more seriously affected people and I obviously feel compassion, but I don't identify with them. I'm not there yet."

Since the discovery of his illness in 1991, he refuses to feel sorry for himself and firmly believes that everything will eventually work out. However, these nine years spent hiding his Parkinson's have been less easy than he wants to say. Each of his public appearances became a source of anxiety for him, because he did not know if his medication would be effective long enough. Last week, in the middle of an interview with Diane Sawyer of the ABC chain, he had to stop for about fifteen minutes to take his pills and wait for their effect. But the treatment is exhausting. That's why until recently he rarely took them in private and preferred to bear his tremors. Even if, at the height of the crises, he became unable to take a glass of water or a remote control. Thanks to his medication, he can draw. Without, he cannot hold a pen in his hands. “Over time, I learned several tricks to hide my difficulties. When I feel the tremors coming, I take an object in my hand for about fifteen seconds, until it passes. I also happened to give interviews while walking in front of my interlocutor who reported in his article that I was very nervous!

It was on the set of the film “Doc Hollywood”, in 1991, that he discovered the first symptoms. Unexpectedly, he sometimes lost control of his little finger. A doctor assured him it was nothing. But two months later, an unusual stiffness had invaded his left arm. The verdict of a New York specialist was succinct but straightforward: "Mr. Fox, you have Parkinson's disease." Leaving the consultation, he announced the news to his wife, who burst into tears. Tracy Pollan, he had met her on the set of the series that made her famous in the early 80s, “Family Ties”. She was the one who calmed him down when the glory of “Back to the Future” got to his head a bit. He went out a lot, drank a lot and crashed his Ferrari a bit. For twelve years, they have been a couple like Hollywood likes to believe that there can be in the world of show business. Far from the madness of California, they live in Vermont and lead a quiet family life with their three children, Sam (11) and their 5-year-old twins, Aquinnah and Schuyler.

Obviously, after the first diagnosis, the couple consulted a second, then a third specialist. Everyone greeted Fox with reassuring words: "At your age, given your physical condition, I doubt it is Parkinson's disease." Before arriving at the same painful conclusion. Realistic but anxious to understand, Fox tried to provide doctors with several beginnings of an explanation of the origin of the disease. Could this be the consequence of the blows received when he played hockey diligently in Canada where he is from? That of a fainting he had after a stunt on the set of "Back to the Future"? “After a while, I had to realize that it was just fate. Why me? I don't know, but that's how it is,” he said.

Very quickly, the symptoms became more pressing, the disease progressed; he soon couldn't control his left hand. “My son called it the tremblote. We had set up a game. As soon as I started to lose control of my hand, he took it in his hands and we counted to 5. I was afraid that he was suffering from my condition, but recently he did something something that touched me a lot. At 11, he is a small man. As we both chatted, my fingers started shaking. He continued to look me in the eyes while resting his hand on mine and spoke to me as if nothing had happened.

However, Michael J. Fox did not intend to let the disease dictate his life. He signed on for the “Spin City” series, warning producers of the nature of his illness. Shortly before starting filming, he decided to undergo a thalamotomy, an operation likely to eliminate the most violent crises. A tremor in his left hand, which "allowed him to mix a margarita in less than 5 seconds", now crippled him almost permanently. The success rate of the intervention is 90%, but failure could prove fatal or leave him paralyzed for life. For him, the game was worth the candle. "When I left Canada, penniless, to try my luck in Hollywood, it was quite a gamble," he says. And unlike what you're going to accomplish, I, at that time, didn't know what I was doing." Anesthetized but conscious, Fox spent four hours on the pool table, responding to the practitioner's directions. “At one point he asked me to move my arm, but I couldn't. I blamed myself because I felt like that was what he expected. Despite my efforts, I couldn't. I was desperate. I thought the operation had failed. He then said to me: “You can't? So much the better, it means that we have finished and that everything went well.

As “Spin City” became a success, the filming difficulties grew. Michael had to take his medication every two hours. The work schedule was changed from Monday-Friday to Thursday-Tuesday to give him a recovery weekend. The staging was also adapted. Early in the series, it was not uncommon to see his character skateboarding around City Hall. This kind of “cascade” was of course no longer possible. Similarly, the static scenes were removed to allow him to always be in motion to better conceal his tremors.

Among the Foxes, illness has become a sixth character. Sam, the eldest, is able to understand. The little twins, less. They don't always understand why dad agrees to read them a story on the condition that it is they who hold the book in their hands... Sometimes they also cry because the medication alters their speech and tone of voice. of their father who then expresses himself in a more serious and authoritative tone than he would like. His wife, Tracy, who has now become his nurse, takes care of the smallest things in life, helps him brush his teeth or button his shirts.

Today, Michael J. Fox prefers to devote himself to lobbying before the American Congress so that we increase the research budget or take care of his foundation rather than pretending that all is well. “I can still do everything a husband needs to do in a house, but I'm under no illusions it won't last. I wish I could interrupt the process towards the logical conclusion, but, in a way, I'm grateful. This disease made me stronger. A million times wiser too. I realized how vulnerable I was. It doesn't matter the rewards and the amount of your bank account when you have to face this kind of situation. In the end, we die. All. When you really accept reality, the important thing then becomes the quality of life. Today, this is what I am. If that's a problem for you, I can understand. So close your eyes. I am 38 years old, I am convinced that before I turn 50 we will have found a cure. That leaves me twelve years.”

On his website diary (michaeljfox.org), dated May 16, Michael wrote, “I can't stay. I have to answer mail while the meds take effect. I can't wait to use one of these voice-recognition programs. You see what I mean. Mike."