Michael J. Fox talks openly about abusing alcohol to cope with his Parkinson's diagnosis in his new Sundance documentary "Again: A film by Michael J. Fox."

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Michael J. Fox Opens Up About Alcohol Abuse and Denial in ‘Still’ Documentary

January 22, 2023

In a new documentary, Michael J. Fox talks about Parkinson’s disease and how he used alcohol to cope with his diagnosis.

‘Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,’ which premiered Friday at the Sundance Film Festival, traces the life and career of the beloved ‘Back to the Future’ star, who was diagnosed with degenerative brain disorder in 1991. But the actor, now 61, hid his health issues from the public for the next seven years as he privately struggled with denial and depression.

Filming film and TV projects during this time, Fox says he popped dopamine pills “like Halloween Smarties (candy)” to help ward off early symptoms of the disease. On set, he also made a point of always holding props to hide his tremors.

“Therapeutic value, comfort – none of that was the reason I took those pills. There was only one reason: to hide,” Fox says in the documentary. “I’ve become a virtuoso at manipulating drug use so that I climax at exactly the right time and in the right place.”

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He was filled with dread about his prognosis, after doctors told him there was no way to win the fight against Parkinson’s disease. So he started drinking to forget.

“I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know what was going to happen. What if I could just have four glasses of wine and maybe a shot?” said Fox. “I was definitely an alcoholic. But I went 30 years without drinking.”

Fox credits his wife, actress Tracy Pollan, and four children for inspiring him to get sober. But her first years without alcohol were a challenge.

“As low as alcohol had brought me, abstinence would bring me down. I couldn’t escape anymore,” Fox recalled. So he tried to work and travel as much as possible in the early years of his diagnosis: “You can’t pretend at home that you don’t have Parkinson’s because you’re just there with it. If I’m out in the world, I’m dealing with other people and they don’t know I have it.”

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Fox finally opened up about his Parkinson’s disease in 1998. He speaks candidly in the film about his lingering fears and frustrations with the disease.

“For me, the worst thing is restraint,” Fox says. “The worst thing is being confined and not being able to get out of it.” In the beginning, “there were times when I was like, ‘There’s no getting out of this.’ ”

The documentary is directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (2006 “An Inconvenient Truth”), who accompanies Fox to doctor visits and interviews the actor about his daily life with Parkinson’s disease.

“I’m in a lot of pain,” Fox said at one point. Due to the illness, he fell frequently while walking and injured himself several times during the filming of the documentary.

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“People around me say, ‘Be careful, be careful,'” Fox said. “And I’m like, ‘This has nothing to do with being careful. It happens. “

But the film ends on a hopeful note, showing how he established the Michael J. Fox Foundation in 2000 and continues to champion Parkinson’s disease research.

“Some people would take the news of my illness as an end,” Fox says. “But I was starting to feel like it was really a start.”

“Still” will be released by Apple TV+ later this year. The Sundance Film Festival continues in Park City, Utah through January 29.

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