Michael J. Fox is not afraid of death after living with Parkinson’s disease for more than 30 years.
“One day I’ll run out of gas,” the “Back to the Future” star bluntly told Town & Country in an interview published Thursday.
“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.”
Fox noted that he is 62 years old, so if he “were to pass away tomorrow, it would be premature.”
“But it wouldn’t be unheard of,” he added. “And so, no, I don’t fear that.”
The beloved actor was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 but didn’t publicly come forward with the news until 1998.
In his 2002 book, “Lucky Man,” he recalled the diagnosis feeling like “the bill being brought to a sloppy table after an ill-deserved and under-appreciated banquet” after admitting his movie career was not going too well once the “Back to the Future” franchise released its third and final film in 1990.
Despite not feeling too lucky when he received his diagnosis, Fox got sober and changed his tune so he could used his star power to do good in the world. Now, he sees his diagnosis as a “gift.”
He founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in 2000 and has since funded nearly $2 billion in research, per Town & Country.
Furthermore, in April, a decade-long study funded by the foundation was published and revealed Parkinson’s can now be detected in living people by locating a specific protein in the body, which has groundbreaking potential in terms of delaying or even eliminating symptoms.
“When I was diagnosed, it was like a drunk driving test,” the “Spin City” alum told the magazine.
“Now we can say, ‘You have this protein, and we know that you have Parkinson’s.’
“It opens the gates for pharmaceutical companies to come in and say, ‘We’ve got a target and we’re going to dump money into it,’ and when they dump money into it, good things happen.”
And while Fox is known for his positive demeanor, he never sugarcoats his reality.
Speaking to CBS earlier this year, he admitted life with Parkinson’s was getting noticeably more difficult with age.
“I’m not gonna lie. It’s gettin’ hard, it’s gettin’ harder,” he said on “CBS Sunday Morning,” adding, “It’s gettin’ tougher. Every day it’s tougher.”
Less than two months after the admission, Fox fell on stage at a “Back to the Future” expo.
He also said in 2021 that he knows Parkinson’s won’t be cured during his lifetime.
“I’m really blunt with people about cures. When they ask me if I will be relieved of Parkinson’s in my lifetime, I say, ‘I’m 60 years old, and science is hard. So, no,’” he explained in a profile for AARP magazine.
“I am genuinely a happy guy. I don’t have a morbid thought in my head — I don’t fear death. At all.”
