A new documentary features Michael J. Fox recounting his rise to fame in Hollywood while providing more insight into his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.
The trailer for “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” was released on Thursday, April 6, and includes Fox describing the moment he first noticed symptoms of the condition.
“I woke up, and I noticed my pinky auto-animated. Parkinson’s disease,” Fox, 61, says.
He also shares how his wife, Tracy Pollan, reacted to the news of his diagnosis.
“‘In sickness and in health,’ I remember her whispering,” he shares. “No one outside of my family knew.”
Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder that leads to unintended and uncontrollable movements, according to the National Institutes of Health. The symptoms begin gradually and can eventually affect the ability to walk and talk, states the NIH.
In a 2020 interview on TODAY, Fox spoke about sharing his diagnosis with his family.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” Fox said of their reaction at the time. “One of the things I’ll always love Tracy for is that at that moment, she didn’t blink.”
“Has she ever since then?” Sunday TODAY’s Willie Geist asked.
“No,” Fox replied, wiping away tears.
Fox and Pollan have been married since July 1988 and have four children together: Sam, 33, Aquinnah, 28, Schuyler 28, and Esmé, 21.
“Still,” directed by Davis Guggenheim, features moments from some of Fox’s most famous movies, such as “Back to the Future” and “Teen Wolf.”
“I was bigger than bubble gum,” Fox says, before the trailer transitions to his Parkinson’s diagnosis and struggles with addiction.
He tells the camera he abused alcohol and pills after receiving his diagnosis at age 29.
“There was only one reason I took these pills,” he says. “To hide. But, all those years hiding was shaking me awake.”
According to USA Today, Fox shares in the documentary that he has since been sober for 30 years.
The trailer showcases moments from Fox’s career that made fans fall in love with him. However, at the end of the trailer, Guggenheim cites a more somber look at Fox’s legacy from critics: “The sad-sack story is: Michael J. Fox gets this debilitating disease, and it crushes him.”
“Yeah, that’s boring,” Fox responds.
“Still” premieres May 12 on Apple TV+.
