Michael J. Fox has been living with Parkinson’s disease for more than 30 years, and at 64, he tells the Times of London that he feels a certain gratitude for his circumstances.
“There aren’t many people who have had Parkinson’s for 35 years,” he says in a wide-ranging interview that touches on mortality. “I’d like to just not wake up one day. That’d be really cool. I don’t want it to be dramatic. I don’t want to trip over furniture, smash my head.”
“That’s another thing too, about dying,” he adds. “I just haven’t had time.”
Fox continues to work on various projects, including his new book Future Boy, which reflects on being cast in Back to the Future while still filming the sitcom Family Ties. Yet he also acknowledges the ways Parkinson’s has reshaped his daily life:
“I take it easy now,” he says. “I don’t walk that much anymore. I can walk, but it’s not pretty and it’s a bit dangerous. So I just roll that into my life, you know—no pun intended.”
The father of four also shares that he considers it a privilege, rather than a burden, to serve as a role model for others living with Parkinson’s.