In his 2020 memoir, No Time Like the Future, Michael J. Fox wrote about how he’s dealt with the myriad medical issues he’s faced throughout his life: Not only his long battle with Parkinson’s but a 2018 spinal tumor that required surgery lest it paralyze him, and a subsequent fall that broke his upper arm.
The latter incident was so frustrating it even caused Fox to reconsider his deeply held, make-lemons-into-lemonade optimism. “I said, ‘Fuck lemonade. I’m out of the lemonade business,’” he recalled in a new interview with Town and Country.
Incredibly, though, that series of unfortunate events “was nothing” compared to what came next. Fox revealed that in recent years, he broke his other arm and shoulder, injured his orbital bone and cheek, and nearly lost one of his hands after breaking it as well.
“My hand got infected, and then I almost lost it,” he said. “It was a tsunami of misfortune.”
While Fox maintained — rightly so — that he’s a “tough son of a bitch,” he remained characteristically open about his struggles to stay upright and the damage caused by his frequent falls. (Parkinson’s itself can severely impact a person’s mobility, while on top of that, a medication Fox takes to fight facial paralysis so he can speak causes side effects like involuntary movements and tics.)
The actor also acknowledged the fear and nightmares his mobility issues can conjure, especially the worry that one of his collapses might put his “family in jeopardy.” But that fear, Fox said, doesn’t really extend to himself.
“One day, I’ll run out of gas,” he said. “One day, I’ll just say, ‘It’s not going to happen. I’m not going out today.’ If that comes, I’ll allow myself that. I’m 62 years old. Certainly, if I were to pass away tomorrow, it would be premature, but it wouldn’t be unheard of. And so, no, I don’t fear that.”
Earlier this year, Fox starred in a new documentary about his life, Still. Directed by Davis Guggenheim, the film featured extensive interviews with Fox, as well as clips from his acting career and some dramatic recreations of major moments in his life.
