Michael J. Fox plans ‘second retirement’ as health declines

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https://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...ike-the-future

By CHRISTINA SCHOELLKOPF
ASSISTANT EDITOR
NOV. 16, 20207:30 AM

When Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at age 29, already a major movie and TV star (“Family Ties,” “Back to the Future”), a doctor told him he would be lucky to work for 10 more years.

Thirty years and eight Emmy nominations (including a 2009 win) later, the joke’s on that guy.

But the optimism that carried Fox along even as his body betrayed him — and fueled three hopeful memoirs, beginning with “Lucky Man” in 2002 — has given way to a more sober and realistic vision in his latest book, “No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality.” Part of that realism is the revelation, to himself and his fans, that his acting career is coming to an end.

“There is a time for everything, and my time of putting in a twelve-hour workday, and memorizing seven pages of dialogue, is best behind me,” Fox writes in the book, which is out Tuesday.

He continues, “At least for now ... I enter a second retirement. That could change, because everything changes. But if this is the end of my acting career, so be it.”

Here are some other takeaways from Fox’s fourth memoir.

Some Trump digs

Among several comments on our slowly departing president, Fox describes his struggle with Parkinson’s in terms of every physical movement being a “negotiation in my mind between Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi.”

His past struggles with sobriety

Fox describes the early years with his first son, Sam, as “Miller Time.” Looking back on it, Sam “tells me that his earliest memories include going to the fridge to get me beers.” Fox quit drinking when Sam was 3 and has been sober ever since.

Memory loss and delusions

Like many Parkinson’s patients, Fox has begun to notice cognitive changes, including memory loss, confusion, delusions and dementia — something he has “rarely contemplated before now, much less spoke of.” He describes looking for his car keys before remembering he can no longer drive; mistaking one of his twin daughters for the other and uttering, “What did you think?” to “the person to my left, who isn’t there.”

A missed gig with a Hollywood ending

The day Fox was set to film a cameo in the 2019 Spike Lee-produced movie “See You Yesterday,” he had a serious fall — only four months after a critical surgery to remove a tumor from his spine (unrelated to Parkinson’s). But Netflix offered a “Hollywood ending,” funding a pick-up day to return to set about six months later, reassembling the cast and crew and belatedly completing Fox’s scene.

Keith Richards and more famous friends

Even big-shot actors get starstruck. Fox rang in New Year’s Day 2018 next to Keith Richards, “swashbuckling pirate king, immortal rock god, and Rolling freaking Stone ... I’m not worthy.” Adorned with a massive skull ring, cocktail in his hand, Richards and Fox (virgin piña colada in hand) enjoyed the fireworks show together at a Turks and Caicos resort.

Unfortunately, Fox was dealing at the time with an excruciatingly painful pinched sciatic nerve and had to cut the trip short. “Oh god, Keith Richards looks better than I feel,” he thought.

Fox also writes at length about hitting the links with his golfing buddies, author Harlan Coben and ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos; hanging out with former Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.); and working with the likes of Larry David.

His binge-watches may surprise you

You can count Fox among the legion of fans who find comfort in “Great British Baking Show.” The actor also enjoys “Peaky Blinders,” “Escape at Dannemora,” cable news and old game shows he acknowledges are “politically incorrect.”

Watching vintage TV, Fox "[slips] into another reality. It’s one of the million iterations of time travel — to visit a world that’s pre-me ... Just like the performers in these old shows, someday I will survive myself in reruns.”

Love and family ties

Fox is “quietly impressed” that he and Tracy Pollan have passed their 30th anniversary, decades after first meeting on the NBC sitcom “Family Ties.”

“She’s not always a rock, but that’s okay,” he writes. “Rocks are solid, stubborn, and immovable. That’s me. Tracy, on the other hand, has learned to keep the rock rolling.”

Not so happy days on ‘The Michael J. Fox Show’

Fox has some choice words for NBC, which picked up one season of “The Michael J. Fox Show” from 2013-2014: “I think Parkinson’s freaked them out, which was problematic, because it was the premise of the show.” He considers it a “grievous mistake” that he did not involve his longtime producing partner Nelle Fortenberry, who helped him write this book by transcribing dictation.

Ultimately, he takes responsibility for the show’s failures. He didn’t have “the focus or the bandwidth to administer the life support the show would need to make it. That’s on me, and I’m fine with that.”

He took inspiration from Quentin Tarantino

When it comes to Fox’s declining health and independence, he feels a connection with Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood,” “one of my favorite films by one of my favorite directors.”

He writes, “DiCaprio, playing a cowboy actor who’s seen better days, keeps screwing up his lines ... Furious at himself over his chronic inability to remember and deliver the dialogue... [he] berates himself viciously over his abject failure. I feel his pain. I’ve obviously been there.

“But weighed against everything else in my life, I don’t find it worthy of self-excoriation ... My work as an actor does not define me.”

Despite several setbacks and scares, Fox remains committed to advice his late father-in-law Stephen Pollan gave him, “With gratitude, optimism becomes sustainable.”

[80s Dude]

So sad. One of the most liked actors in Hollywood.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by 80s Dude

So sad. One of the most liked actors in Hollywood.

I wonder if in actuality, Michael doesn't get enough credit for what he brought to Family Ties? What I mean is that type of character (a smarmy, young Republican, yuppie) could've easily been really unlikable with a less charismatic actor.

[Dick York was Darrin]

Originally Posted by TMC

I wonder if in actuality, Michael doesn't get enough credit for what he brought to Family Ties? What I mean is that type of character (a smarmy, young Republican, yuppie) could've easily been really unlikable with a less charismatic actor.

He played a caricature of a Republican. Hollywood loves a good caricature of a Republican. Just ask Archie Bunker.

[Family Ties Forever!]

Note: Please don't post political comments on the tv show board. Political conversations belong on the politics board.

It's sad to learn Michael J. Fox's health has gotten so bad. My heart goes out to him and his family.