“She was able to get me through it, and go through it with me. And she has for 35 years,” Fox said of his wife, Tracy Pollan.
Michael J. Fox is reflecting on his 35-year marriage to his wife, Tracy Pollan, and sharing how she’s stood by him amid his longtime battle with Parkinson’s disease.
During an appearance on Thursday’s episode of CBS Mornings, the actor explained that his wife has lived by her wedding vows since his diagnosis with the brain disorder in 1991, noting that she’s been there for him “for better or for worse” and “in sickness and in health.”
Fox, 62, has now revealed that he would have understood if his wife chose to leave him in the three decades since his 1991 diagnosis, but she never has.
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“It’s been great for me, I don’t know how it is for her,” he said when asked about his wife’s unwavering support. “I love Tracy, obviously, and she’s an amazing person and has gone through a lot. I realize she has a life separate from me having Parkinson’s, separate from me being Alex Keaton or Marty McFly, she’s a person. I think that’s why it’s gone okay.”
The Family Ties star continued, “She had indicated to me by saying, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health. She was able to get me through it, and go through it with me. And she has for 35 years.”
“We knew the bus was coming and we knew it was going to hit, but we didn’t know how far away it was or how fast it was going,” Fox added. “At any time, she would have been forgiven to say, ‘I’m just gonna step out.’ But, she didn’t do that.”
The Back to the Future actor and Pollan, 63, married in 1988. The couple shares four children: son Sam, 34, twin daughters Aquinnah and Schuyler, 28, and daughter Esme, 21.
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991 when he was only 29. He founded the research foundation, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, in 2000.
Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder that causes unintentional and uncontrollable movements that often involves shaking, stiffness and poor balance and coordination. Though symptoms start gradually, the effects of the disease worsen over time and eventually lead to difficulty walking and talking.
