Nowadays, if a celebrity’s name trends, it means they are either getting divorced or have passed away. But when Michael J. Fox began trending, everyone feared only the latter.
After all, he has been married to his wife, Tracy Pollan, since 1988. So, chances are that they weren’t divorcing.
So, is the latter true? Has Michael J. Fox passed away?
No, Michael J. Fox hasn’t passed away. Though he has been fighting Parkinson’s disease since his diagnosis in 1991 and mentioned he cannot see himself beyond 80 with this incurable disease, at the age of 62, Michael J. Fox is still alive. The viral Twitter/X trends promoting his death are all fake news.
Did Michael J. Fox Pass Away?
No, Michael J. Fox hasn’t passed away. The Twitter/ X accounts spreading the news are fake.
The 62-year-old actor has been fighting Parkinson’s disease for 30 years since 1991. But he went public with the diagnosis in 1998. In an interview with Town & Country, he referred to the illness as a gift. He said:
“I’ve said Parkinson’s is a gift. It’s the gift that keeps on taking, but it has changed my life in so many positive ways.”
But he didn’t have a positive view of it from the beginning. Initially, he drowned himself in alcohol after the diagnosis. However, he gradually cleaned himself up and went to an AA. Also, he began seeing a therapist.
It is there he got an epiphany on how to handle Parkinson’s. Fox revealed:
“My therapist said, ‘How are you feeling?’ I said, ‘I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.’ And she said, ‘Michael, you have Parkinson’s! The other shoe dropped a long time ago.’ ”
He founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation in 2000 for Parkinson’s Research with the aim to go broke every year. As per Town & Country:
“In 2020, the foundation brought in $199 million in private donations and the next year funded $233 million in grants… After spending nearly $2 billion on research, the foundation in 2022 had allocated more on Parkinson’s research than the U.S. government.”
Their efforts have borne fruit because in April 2023, the scientific journal Lancet Neurology, after a decade-long research, published the results of the Fox Foundation-led study. It was found that Parkinson’s can be detected with the help of a biomarker protein.
Fox was delighted with the research results because they were revolutionary. He said:
“When I was diagnosed, it was like a drunk driving test. Now we can say, ‘You have this protein, and we know that you have Parkinson’s.’”
He also hopes it will open the gates for companies to invest more in Parkinson’s cure. Fox explained:
“It opens the gates for pharmaceutical companies to come in and say, ‘We’ve got a target, and we’re going to dump money into it,’ and when they dump money into it, good things happen.”
However, at 62, Fox is realistic about his life with Parkinson’s. During an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning in April, he revealed that he can’t see himself being 80. He also acknowledged that it’s getting tougher to go on.
Regarding his death, he said:
“If I were to pass away tomorrow, it would be premature, but it wouldn’t be unheard of. And so, no, I don’t fear that.”
Were you fooled by the fake news of Michael J. Fox’s passing? Did you fall into the same trap regarding the death news of another celebrity?
Let us know your confessions in the comments below.
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