Skip to content 
The diagnosis created an extraordinary contrast.
Professionally, Fox was one of Hollywood’s most successful young actors.
Personally, he had just learned that he was living with a progressive neurological disease.
But the public knew nothing about it.
That would remain true for years.
He Chose Privacy First
Fox did not immediately announce his diagnosis.
Instead, he continued working.
He appeared in films including For Love or Money, The American President and The Frighteners.
For audiences, there was little indication of the private reality he was managing.
His family was growing at the same time.
Fox had married actress Tracy Pollan in 1988.
They had met while working on Family Ties, where Pollan played Ellen Reed, a girlfriend of Fox’s character Alex P. Keaton.
Their first child, Sam, was born in 1989.
Twin daughters Aquinnah and Schuyler followed in 1995.
Their fourth child, Esmé, was born in 2001.
Fox’s Parkinson’s diagnosis therefore arrived not only during an extraordinary period in his career but during the early years of his marriage and family life.
For several years, that diagnosis remained largely private.
Eventually, keeping it hidden became increasingly difficult.
Returning to Television
In the 1990s, Fox returned to series television with Spin City.
He played New York City Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty.
The series became another major success for him.
His performance earned an Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
But as Spin City continued, Parkinson’s became harder for Fox to keep private.