Michael J. Fox Offers Health Update: "I'm Not Going To Be 80"

Michael J. Fox offered an honest update about his life with Parkinson's disease during an interview with CBS News. The discussion will air in full on Sunday morning on CBS. A preview excerpt sees the Back to the Future star, who announced his second retirement from acting in his 2020 memoir, being candid about how his Parkinson's has progressed. Fox received his Parkinson's diagnosis at age 29 and has continued to live publicly with its effects. Now 61, Fox replies to interviewer Jane Pauley's question, "At some point Parkinson's going to call for you, isn't it?" by saying, "Yeah, it's banging on the door. I mean, I'm not going to lie it's going to hurt."

Fox continues, admitting, "It's getting tougher. Every day it's tougher, but that's the way it is. I mean, you know, who do I see about that? You don't die from Parkinson's. You die with Parkinson's. So I've been thinking about the mortality of it. I'm not going to be 80. I'm not going to be 80."

"You don't die from Parkinson's. You die with Parkinson's"

Fox also explained some of the details of living and dying while suffering from Parkinson's disease that people may not know. "I had spinal surgery," he says. "I had a tumor on my spine. And – and – and it was benign, but it messed up my walking, and then, started to break stuff. Broke this arm, and I broke this arm, I broke this elbow. I broke my face. I broke my hand."

Fox confirms to Pauley that those breakages resulted from falling on things. "Which is a big killer with Parkinson's," he says. "It's falling … and aspirating food and getting pneumonia. All these subtle ways that get ya'."

Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's Fight

Since receiving his diagnosis in 1991, Fox has used his celebrity status to help raise funds for research into Parkinson's disease treatment in the hopes of eventually finding a cure. As part of those efforts, he created the Michael J. Fox Foundation in 2000. It has become the leading non-profit funder of Parkinson's disease research worldwide, raising $1 billion for research projects, which has helped to improve therapies used to treat people with Parkinson's.

During the interview with CBS, Fox discusses a recent breakthrough in Parkinson's research. Medical researchers believe they have identified a biomarker for Parkinson's, the recognition of which could lead to an earlier diagnosis of the disease.

Fox's full interview with Pauley will air on CBS Sunday Morning on April 30th and stream on Paramount+. A documentary about Fox's life debuted at Sundance Film Festival and comes to Apple TV+ on May 12th.