In an honest moment with his fans, Michael J. Fox took the stage to reveal the sad news about his family. While speaking to his beloved followers, Fox let people know that his mother, Phyllis Fox, passed away at the age of ninety-two on September 24, 2022 – only two weeks before. The actor, who is now sixty-one years old, revealed the sad news while at an appearance at New York Comic Con over the weekend – at the festival where he reunited with Back to the Future co-star Christopher Lloyd.
Fox shared a story about his mother about how she did not approve of his busy work schedule back in the 1980s. Apparently, Fox was shooting Family Ties during the day in the 1980s and would go to the movie set of Back to the Future at night to film with his co-stars.
Fox said, “I was 23 years old, and I called her. She was in Canada, and I said, ‘They want me to do this Steven Spielberg movie, but I have to do it at night, and I have to do Family Ties in the daytime.’ And she said, ‘You’ll be too tired.’”
Clearly, Fox’s mother was just being protective of her beloved son. Michael J. Fox is a Canadian-American actor.
In response to his mother’s complaints about him working too hard, he said, “I live for this kind of tired. It’ll be okay.”
Fox added, “To this day — well, till two weeks ago — my mother thought it was a really bad idea for me to do Back to the Future. She loved the movie, [but she was right], I got tired.”
An online obituary for Phyllis Fox listed her birthplace and date as Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1929. She is survived not only by her son Michael but also by her two daughters, Jackie and Kelli. She is also survived by nine grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild, who is an absolute treasure.
According to her obit, Phyllis “took special pride in raising awareness for Diabetes and Parkinson’s Disease, and in serving on the board of the Michael J Fox Theatre in Burnaby.”
Fox did not just speak about the passing of his mother during his New York Comic Con appearance over the weekend. The superstar also addressed his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in 1998. He explained that although the disease has progressed over the years, he continues to receive top-notch medical support and is optimistic about his future.
“Well, in the last year, I’ve broken my cheek, my eye socket, my hand, my elbow … my shoulder. I had a rough year of getting beat up. But that was really cool because it made me realize … with gratitude, it’s sustainable,” he stated.
“If you can find something to be grateful for if you can find something and say, ‘Well, that’s good,’… It’ll always get better… I’m very optimistic.”
He added, “I’d say optimism is thinking that things are more likely to get better than they are to get worse. If you believe in that, and you are grateful for it, that’ll sustain you the rest of your life.”