Michael J. Fox suffered a fall during a Q&A with his Back to the Future co-stars. Photo / AP
Michael J. Fox suffered a fall during a Q&A with his Back to the Future co-stars. Photo / AP
Michael J. Fox suffered a fall on stage at a Back to the Future fan event, weeks after revealing his battle with Parkinson’s is getting “harder”.
The retired actor, 61, lost his footing while taking to the stage for a Q&A session on the film at Fan Expo in Philadelphia over the weekend, seen in video footage from the event.
The star appeared to recover quickly from the fall, broken by a couch in front of him, and he seemed to be in good spirits as he took his place on the panel alongside his Back to the Future co-stars Tom Wilson, who played bully Biff Tannen in the films, and Christopher Lloyd, who played Dr Emmett “Doc” Brown.
Fans were delighted to see the trio on stage to answer their questions, reuniting almost 40 years after the first film hit screens.
Five-time Emmy winner Fox was already a breakout star, leading the sitcom Family Ties, when he was cast as time travelling teen Marty McFly in Back to the Future in 1985.
The first film was a huge success, earning over $388 million (NZ$639m) at the box office. Fox reprised his role in the sequel, travelling forward in time in Back to the Future Part II (1989).
Fox played the iconic Marty McFly in all three Back to the Future films. Photo / Supplied
Fox then took on a dual role as McFly and his predecessor Seamus McFly in the third Back to the Future film, travelling back in time once again to save Doc Brown.
Last month the star shared that his decades of living with Parkinson’s - a degenerative disease affecting motor skills and the nervous system - was getting “harder”.
He told US morning show CBS Sunday Morning that “[Parkinson’s was] banging on the door ... I’m not going to lie, it’s getting hard. It’s getting harder. It’s getting tougher.”
“Every day it’s tougher … that’s the way it is,” he continued.
Fox also made the heartbreaking admission that he doesn’t think he’ll make it to his 80th birthday.
“You don’t die from Parkinson’s. You die with Parkinson’s. So I’ve been thinking about the mortality of it. I’m not going to be 80. I’m not going to be 80.”
Fox retired from acting in 2020 as his health declined. Since he was first diagnosed, he has raised over $1 billion to fund research through the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
