Michael J.Fox is opening up about how going public with his battle with Parkinson's has affected not only him, but his loved ones.As part of the third annual Social Impact Summit, hosted by The Hollywood Reporter and Social Impact Fund ,the 65-year-old actor went into detail about why he chose to go public with his Parkinson's diagnosis, and the toll that decision had, and continues to have on his family, particularly his wife, Tracy Pollan."It was hell on Tracy, it was really hard on her — and it still is, because it’s always changing," he told The Hollywood Reporter.
"But I said to her, ‘I have to go all the way here.No half measures.’ I started to understand what it was like for these people who didn’t have the options or the choices I had, didn’t have the connections and the reason to be optimistic...I needed to normalize it and just be that all the time.
I said, ‘I have to not hide this.F— vanity.’"The actor was first diagnosed with the degenerative disease in 1991 at the age of 29, keeping his diagnosis a secret for seven years, before going public in 1998 during the third season of his hit show, "Spin City."Fox said his decision to go public with his Parkinson's diagnosis was "hell" for his wife.
(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for The Michael J.Fox Foundation)VINCE GILL GAVE AMY GRANT A REALITY CHECK DURING RECOVERY FROM BRAIN INJURYAfter one more season on the show, Fox chose to retire from acting in order to devote his time to advocacy and fundraising for Parkinson's disease.
It was then that he founded the Michael J.Fox Foundation in 2000, which is dedicated towards finding a cure.Since its inception, the foundation has generated more than $3 billion in research, which has left Fox and Deborah W.
Brooks, Co-Founder and CEO of the foundation, optimistic about where the research is headed.WATCH: Co-founder of The Michael J.Fox Foundation is proud of what they have achieved"Well, it's been the best state for Parkinson's research ever," B...