Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.
Already a member?
Log in
Michael J. Fox’s wife, Tracy Pollan, is opening up about how their family stays positive amid the actor’s journey with Parkinson’s disease.
Pollan, Fox and their three daughters attended a New York City fundraising gala Saturday for The Michael J. Fox Foundation, which benefits Parkinson’s research in the race to find a cure for the progressive neurodegenerative disorder.
At the event, 66-year-old Pollan told People that she and Fox — who have been married since 1988 — stay optimistic by being present.
“I think you just have to do it day by day,” she told the magazine. “You have to look at what’s in front of you … and you have to stay in the moment — and if the moment is okay, that’s where you are.”
She went on to say that she and the beloved Back to the Future star, 65, prioritize eating meals together each day.
“I mean, it’s funny because we have very different tastes in books and very different tastes in what we watch, but we both always love a great meal, so I’m gonna say our meals together make us happy,” she said.
Pollan and Fox, who first met as co-stars on the ‘80s sitcom Family Ties, are parents to son Sam, 37, daughter Esmé, 25, and twin 31-year-old daughters Aquinnah and Schuyler.
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991, a year after the release of Back to the Future Part III, in which he famously played his iconic character Marty McFly.
He founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in 2000, which has raised billions of dollars for the cause in its two decades.
At this year’s Emmy Awards, Fox spoke about his diagnosis when he was honored with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for his contributions to Parkinson’s research and advocacy.
“I was stunned by the support from all of you, so uplifted, and I hadn’t lost what I do. They couldn’t take it away from me,” he said. “And it’s because you stood up for me… I understood that accepting Parkinson’s didn’t mean I had to surrender to it. It just meant I had to do everything I could for everyone living with this disease.”
Earlier this year, Fox told The Hollywood Reporter that his career as an actor “really prolonged my life and made my life interesting in a way that I didn’t think it would be to this point.”
“I’m not retired from acting, but if I didn’t act again, it would be for a very good reason. I let Parkinson’s make decisions for me,” he said.
While Fox, who now uses a wheelchair, initially announced his retirement from acting in 2020, he later appeared in the third season of the Apple TV+ comedy-drama Shrinking, which stars Harrison Ford as Dr. Paul Rhoades, who is living with Parkinson’s.
