Michael J. Fox reveals how Leonardo DiCaprio inspired him to quit the film industry

The Back To The Future actor has revealed the unexpected role Leonardo DiCaprio had in his recent life-changing decision. Photos / Getty Images

Michael J. Fox has made a surprise confession regarding his exit from the film industry - and Leonardo DiCaprio’s inadvertent nudge towards his decision to quit acting for good.

Fox - who has been struggling with Parkinson’s disease since he was 29 - started a “second retirement” in 2020 after returning to acting.

The Back to the Future star opened up in an interview with Empire to discuss a big factor in his decision to quit the film industry: DiCaprio’s role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time … In Hollywood.

Fox was working on The Good Fight at the time, and his illness made it difficult to remember his lines.

“I thought of Once Upon A Time … In Hollywood,” he said.

“There’s a scene where Leonardo DiCaprio’s character can’t remember his lines any more. He goes back to his dressing room and he’s screaming at himself in the mirror. Just freaking insane. I had this moment where I was looking in the mirror and thought, ‘I cannot remember it any more. Well, let’s move on.’ It was peaceful.”

Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio star in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Photo / Supplied

The star’s surprising revelation comes a few weeks after his heartbreaking sit-down with CBS Sunday Morning, where Fox revealed that his Parkinson’s battle was “getting harder.

“I’m not gonna be 80,” he confessed.

“I’m not gonna lie. It’s getting hard, it’s getting harder. It’s getting tougher. Every day it’s tougher.”

He went on to say that Parkinson’s’ “big killer” is “falling” and can also be “aspirating food and getting pneumonia”, further elaborating that it is “all these subtle ways that gets you”.

“You don’t die from Parkinson’s. You die with Parkinson’s,” Fox said. “So – so I’ve been – I’ve been thinking about the mortality of it.”