Hollywood actor Michael J. Fox, best known for portraying ‘Marty McFly’ in the ‘Back to the Future‘ trilogy, first publicly talked about the Parkinson disease he has been battling with for more than 20 years. In a recent interview published through People Magazine, said the disease took away the highly crucial skills for his career as an actor.
Then Fox told of how the nervous system disorder affected his memorization. According to what he declared, after surgery to construct the spinal cord, his short-term memory was shot. So much so that, he has still been struggling with his word recall; obviously, it is a huge obstacle for an acting career.
“I always had a real proficiency for lines and memorization. And I had some extreme situations where the last couple of jobs I did were actually really word-heavy parts. I struggled during both of them,”
As fans might remember, the actor was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 when he was 29. However, he waited until 1998 to disclose his health condition to the public. After the mandatory retirement from acting in 2000, he founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation to fight against the disease.
During the interview, Fox kept a positive attitude despite all of the negatives; he stressed the importance of optimism.
“Optimism is sustainable when you keep coming back to gratitude, and what follows from that is acceptance. Accepting that this thing has happened, and you accept it for what it is. It doesn’t mean that you can’t endeavor to change. It doesn’t mean you have to accept it as a punishment or a penance, but just put it in its proper place.”
The actor concluded his words by saying his life now is quiet, and he is enjoying it; even though people don’t believe him, he loves being alive and being with his family.
“I’m grateful that I went through a crucible there in my late 50s. I figured some of this (expletive) out finally, and it didn’t haunt me into my 70s and 80s.”
In order to reach out to the full text of the interview, click here.
