During the promotion of his latest documentary, Still, Michael J. Fox took a moment to look back at his wild youth, which took place long before he began struggling with Parkinson’s disease. He disclosed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he lived a very dangerous life.
“I was into life in a dangerous way,” Fox told the news outlet. “Into life in a way that wanted all the good stuff out of life but didn’t want to pay the respect that life needed to transact one’s way through it.”
Michael J. Fox shares insight about some of his wild behaviors
The actor claimed that he has made some very dangerous moves such as driving at 90 miles per hour on his Lamborghini. “I mean, I had the means with which to do anything I wanted to do. So, how do you make that list?” Fox told Entertainment Weekly. “Start out at the bottom and get up to five, and you’re going, ‘Okay’. If you had the wherewithal to write the list, then you’d write the f—ing list and do some stuff.”
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The 61-year-old further explained that during all of his escapades, he never had the plan to kill himself. “I was never, ever, ever…,” he told the outlet. ” it makes me kind of shutter in a way to hear you mention that.”
Michael J. Fox talks about the progress of his Parkinson’s research work
In the interview, Fox also took out time to talk about his work in Parkinson’s research and his thoughts on the progress being made toward finding a cure for the disease. “One of the things I’m really excited about is, over the last 10 or 15 years, we’ve involved the patient community in a way that they’ve never been involved in before,” Fox stated. “And one of the ways is doing PPI, PPMI, which is trying to find a biomarker.”
He also discussed the potential impact of identifying a biomarker for Parkinson’s disease and the ways in which it could improve early detection and treatment. Fox explained that if a biomarker for Parkinson’s is discovered and can be used to identify those at risk, then it would also allow researchers to test and treat the disease at an earlier stage. “And if we can test for it in infancy, it’s over. You’ll never have Parkinson’s in your life,” the Grammy Award winner said. “And that’s the road we’re going down.”
Fox shared his perspective on how he maintains a positive outlook despite the challenges of living with an incurable illness. “I think optimism is rooted in gratitude,” he said. “As long as you’re grateful for the things you have, you can maintain a sense of hope and optimism, even in difficult times,” he said. “And I can be grateful if I really think about it,” he added. “Because I wouldn’t have had the rest of my life if it weren’t for so many things.”