Tragic Details About Michael J. Fox's Health Issues

It's no secret that "Back to the Future" star Michael J. Fox has dealt with serious health issues for the vast majority of his adult life. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991, when he was 29 years old. This health struggle flew under the radar until he went public with his diagnosis seven years later, subsequently becoming an outspoken advocate for Parkinson's research, founding the Michael J. Fox Foundation at the turn of the millennium. But while Fox was able to channel his disease into something positive, the journey hasn't always been easy, as it's cost him quite a bit. For example, Parkinson's led Fox to retire from acting full-time on two separate occasions. In an October 2025 interview with The Times, Fox revealed that it also forced him to give up his favorite hobby: playing the guitar. "It's terrible," he said.

All that being said, one of the most tragic aspects of Fox's condition is the fact that it's only gotten more difficult to manage with age. Fox opened up about what his health has been like more recently, discussing the mounting effects of Parkinson's in an April 2023 interview with Vanity Fair. "It's banging at the door. I'm not gonna' lie, it's gettin' hard. It's gettin' harder. It's gettin' tougher. Every day it's tougher," he said, adding, "I had spinal surgery. I had a tumor on my spine that was benign, but it messed up my walking. And then started to break stuff. [I] broke this arm, and I broke this arm, I broke this elbow. I broke my face. I broke my hand." With that in mind, it's not lost on Fox that something has to give at some point.

During his 2025 chat with The Times, Michael J. Fox explained that the reason he can no longer play guitar stems from a series of incidents in which he broke several bones in his hand and arm, and also suffered an infection that nearly cost him a finger. To that end, he previously explained during the 2023 Vanity Fair interview that what makes Parkinson's disease so dangerous is not the illness itself, but the mishaps and complications it can cause. "[Falling] is a big killer with Parkinson's. It's falling ... and aspirating food and getting pneumonia. All these subtle ways that gets ya'. ... You don't die from Parkinson's. You die with Parkinson's," the then-61-year-old Fox said, adding that he did not believe he would live to 80.

Fox spoke candidly about his own mortality in the later interview with The Times. He first noted that it had been more than three decades since his Parkinson's diagnosis, meaning he was largely in uncharted waters with respect to the disease. "There are not many people who have had Parkinson's for 35 years," Fox said, adding that when it does come time for him to say goodbye, he just hopes it's peaceful. "I'd like to just not wake up one day. That'd be really cool," he confessed. "I don't want it to be dramatic. I don't want to trip over furniture, smash my head." Until then, however, Fox made it clear that he still has a lot of work to do. Keeping his chin up, he even joked that between his foundation, dipping his toes back into small acting roles, and taking on other projects, he "just [hasn't] had time" to pass away.