Michael J Fox is said to have ‘forgiven’ his wife when she left amid a health battle
Michael J Fox wouldn’t have blamed his wife Tracy Pollan if she had decided to leave him after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
“She would have been forgiven at any point if she had said, ‘I’m just going to get out.’ But she didn’t,” Fox, 62, said during an appearance on Thursday, November 9 CBS mornings. ‘She had let me know that things were getting better or worse, both in illness and in health. She knew how to guide me through it and go through it with me. And she has been doing that for 35 years.”
He added: “We knew the bus was coming and we knew it was going to hit, but we didn’t know how far away it was or how fast it was going.”
The Back to the future star was diagnosed in 1991, three years after he married Pollan, 63. The pair met while working together in season 4 of Family ties, where Pollan played Ellen Reed, the love interest of Fox’s Alex P. Keaton. Three years later, a romance was sparked when they reunited on the big screen for their 1988 film Bright lights, big city. The couple celebrated 35 years of marriage in July.
“It’s been great for me, I don’t know what it’s like for her,” Fox joked about the duo’s decades-long romance, noting that Pollan maintaining an identity outside of his career and health issues is likely a key to keeping of a healthy life. relation.
“I obviously love Tracy and she’s a great person and has been through a lot,” he said. “I realize she has a life separate from the fact that I have Parkinson’s, and I’m Alex Keaton or Marty McFly, she’s a person. I think that’s why it went well.”
As the pair continued to deal with Fox’s health issues, they also expanded their family. They share children Sam, 33, twins Schuyler and Aquinnah, both 28, and Esmé, 21.
In May, Fox released his documentary, Still, in which he looked back on his young acting career and detailed his battle with Parkinson’s over the past thirty years. Fox also opened up about the beginning of his love story with Pollan in the series, sharing that he “fell in love” with her after she proved she wasn’t afraid to mess with him – but admitted it made him a took a second to appreciate her.
“I was a little ad-k,” he said of his reaction after Pollan called him a “total f–king ahole” for pointing out her garlic breath. “She was joking, but I didn’t get it because no one would ever joke with me like that. I was never the butt of jokes.”
Throughout their entire relationship. Pollan has supported Fox in his Parkinson’s advocacy efforts and has served on the board of directors of his Michael J. Fox Foundation since 2000. In March, a source spoke exclusively We weekly that the actress has been her husband’s “biggest cheerleader” since he learned of his diagnosis.
“It certainly brought them closer together,” the insider said at the time. “Seeing Tracy step up and help in any way she could, she was able to do that [make] Michael falls more and more in love with her and he enjoys showering her with love and gifts these days.
While you’re talking to CBS mornings On Thursday, Fox admitted that while the battle against Parkinson’s disease – for which there is no cure – remains difficult, optimism is helping him move forward.
“Positivity is really genuine and it makes me feel really good and it’s genuine,” he said. “But it’s hard fought and hard won, I would have to say. Through this fear, we can find ways to give ourselves a break, to give ourselves credit for getting through life, on our life journeys. To do that, you have to stop and say, “It’s not that bad.”