Beloved actor Michael J. Fox has been battling Parkinson’s Disease for nearly 35 years. It is a degenerative disease that has left the Back to the Future star in a wheelchair at times.
But on Monday, May 12, he and his wife, Tracy Pollan, got a respite from dealing with everyday life issues when they sat courtside at the New York Knicks playoffs game against the Boston Celtics.
See the photos here.
“Celebrity row,” as courtside seats of the big market teams are often called, featured such stars as Timothée Chalamet and girlfriend Kylie Jenner, married actors Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor, comedian John Leguizamo, former Knicks player Stephon Marbury and 30 Rock co-stars Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan.
Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991 but did not go public about his diagnosis until 1998. Since then, he has worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the condition and to raise money for research.
In fact, in 1998, when Fox shared his diagnosis with People, he said in a 2024 interview that at the time, his doctor told him that he would hopefully be “functional for at least another 10 years.” Well, that would have been 2008, so Fox has well surpassed that milestone.
“What I believed then and what I believe now, I might not put it in the same words, but you can do anything. Anything. You don’t have to follow other people’s prognostications for what life is going to be. Life’s going to be what you make it,” said Fox.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research has raised nearly $2 billion since 2000, when Fox founded the organization. In 2023, the foundation’s researchers found a biomarker that can identify Parkinson’s before a person has the symptoms, which is a huge advancement.
“It was one of the few times I cried about what we were doing,” the Family Ties star told People. “We wanted to find a way that we can diagnose the disease before the symptoms are there. Because then we could treat it, and you’d never have it. It was a big break — and a great moment.”
Fox and Pollan met on the set of Family Ties and married in 1988. They have four children — Sam, 35, twin daughters Aquinnah and Schuyler, 30, and daughter Esme, 23.
In case you’re curious, the Knicks beat the Celtics 121-113 and lead the series 3-1. One more win and the Knicks are in the Eastern Conference finals against the winner of the Indiana Pacers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers semifinal matchup.
