Michael J. Fox Reflects on 34-Year Marriage to Tracy Pollan: 'Anything Good That We Do Comes from Her'
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Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan are opening up about their 34-year union.
While appearing at the SXSW premiere of Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie on Tuesday, the couple talked to PEOPLE about how they continue to support one another and nurture their relationship.
"I think we really listen to each other, we are there for each other when we need each other," said Pollan. "And then we also give each other space when that's needed. Just feeling off of what's needed at the moment and trying to be there."
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Fox, 61, and Pollan, 62, tied the knot in 1988 and share son Sam Michael, 33, twin daughters Aquinnah Kathleen and Schuyler Frances, 28, and 21-year-old daughter Esmé Annabelle.
"Tracy gives our family everything that we need. Any good in our family, anything good that we do, comes from her," Fox said.
While accepting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in November, Fox reflected on his harrowing journey with Parkinson's disease. The actor first learned of his diagnoses when he was around 29 years old
Tracy Pollan Instagram Michael J. Fox with his wife Tracy Pollan and their children
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"I was told I only had ten years left to work. That was s—y. That's what happened," Fox shared, in part, while accepting his award. "The hardest part of my diagnosis was grappling with the certainty of the diagnosis and the uncertainty of the situation."
"I only knew it would get worse. The diagnosis was definite, but the progress was indefinite and uncertain. [My wife Tracy Pollan] made it clear that she was with me for the duration," he continued. "Then I entered into seven years of denial, trying to make sense of it all. The kid who left Canada convinced that he would make anything happen, at least by working hard and by believing, now had a tall order in front of him."
Fox added, "I told very few people, and they kept my secret. Then there were all kinds of doctors who helped me understand the physical processes that were at work, or not at work, in my brain, as the case may be. Finally, I felt like I needed to tell everybody. I understood it would have a huge impact on my career."
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The Golden Globe winner said he "had to figure out how best to deliver the news, so I told Barbara Walters and PEOPLE Magazine," adding: "Remember this was at the dawn of the internet. And in those days, if you wanted to get news out, you'd go to PEOPLE Magazine and Barbara Walters. Oh, for simpler times."
"What happened next was remarkable," he continued. "The outpouring of support from the public at large, the beautiful reaction from all of my peers in the entertainment business, all of you, thank you, and the people that I worked with, was transformative."
"Then I reached out to the Parkinson's community itself. Patients, families and doctors, leading scientists in the field. And it struck me that everything I'd been given, success, my life with Tracy, my family, had prepared me for this profound opportunity and responsibility," Fox added.
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Fox, who launched the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research in 2000, which has since raised over $1.5 billion, admitted he "didn't want to call it that," recalling with a laugh: "I wanted to call it PD cure. And I told Tracy and she said, 'Pedicure?'"
His new documentary tells "the improbable tale of Back to the Future actor Michael J. Fox who became the darling of 1980s Hollywood — only to find the course of his life altered by a stunning diagnosis," according to an official logline.
