Michael J Fox is opening up about how he was forced to reveal his Parkinson’s diagnosis after being bullied by the paparazzi.
In a new interview, the 60-year-old actor and advocate talks about how he felt pressured to reveal his diagnosis.
Michael recalled to Entertainment Tonight that “it was seven or eight years after I had been diagnosed … [and] the paparazzi and stuff, they would stand outside my apartment and heckle at me, like, ‘What’s a matter with you?’”
“I said, ‘I can’t be making my neighbors deal with this,’ so I came out, and it was great. It was a great thing,” he said of his decision. “It was a great surprise to me that people responded the way they responded. They responded with interest, in the desire to find an answer to the disease, and then I saw that as a great opportunity. I didn’t get put in this position to squander it.”
Michael commented that he has had the disease for almost 30 years now.
“I think it’s part of my life, it’s what and it’s who I am and it’s a struggle sometimes. I’m not gonna lie, it’s really hard to get up and get ready and get out in the world [some days]. There are days that suck,” he shared. “[But there’s] just an understanding that I will get through it. At any moment, you have a choice: I cannot get through this moment or I can get through this moment.”
He also commented on how he is not only thinking about the people he is helping through his advocacy, but appreciating that others have used his leadership to join the treatment. have followed.
“I don’t spend a lot of time on that,” Michael said. “But I am grateful when people express to me that it means something, [that] means a lot to me. But I don’t think about it. I don’t get up and go, ‘Oh, I’m Mr. Impact!’”