Michael J. Fox Talks About Being Inspired by the Late Muhammed Ali to Look Back at His Past Achievements

Actor Michael J. Fox talked to AARP about the inspiration he found to look back at his past achievements by the late, great Muhammad Ali.

Fox.. talks about the value of looking back at past performances — a lesson he learned from friend and boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who died from Parkinson’s.

It was a very touching interview, as Fox spoke about his previous roles with great pride (and a bit of profanity), both before and after his diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. He also talked about going through a personal crisis in 2018 and how that crisis made him more grateful for what he already had.

So it was a really tough time for me. And then as I came through it, I started to notice things I was grateful for, and I started to notice the gratitude in other people, the way they would respond to difficulty with gratitude. And so I just stepped back a little bit and appreciate that life has been great and there’s a lot more to live.

He also spoke about turning 60, having a new lease on life, and his new ability to watch his younger self.

At 60, I just feel like in spite of this thing I carry every day, I love my life, I love my wife, I love my kids, I love my music that I listen to, I love my books that I read. …People ask me, do I watch myself on TV at a younger age in better health? And, I say, “Well, when I come on, I change the channel.” But I thought about Muhammad Ali, who I had the great fortune to spend some time with later in his life. So I called Lonnie, his wife, up, and I said, “When Muhammad saw himself as a young man, what did he think? She said, “He loved it…. And I thought, “Yeah, I should love it, too.”