20/20: Michael J. Fox Talks to Diane Sawyer
May 23 -- “I certainly have a fear of pity,” Michael J. Fox tells ABCNEWS’ Diane Sawyer. “Pity can be a step away from abuse. It’s not something that I’m comfortable with.”
In his first television interview since announcing his departure from Spin City, Fox spoke to Sawyer about his battle with Parkinson’s disease, his decision to walk away from his hit sitcom and his future plans.
“As an actor with Parkinson’s disease,” says Fox, “playing someone who doesn’t have PD, you know, I’m always doing the math on how to physically navigate my way through a scene.”
But nine years after being diagnosed with the illness and four years since Spin City first aired, Fox will no longer be doing such calculations. The final episode of Spin City, of which he was the executive producer and star, will be broadcast on May 24.
“I loved it very much,” he says of the show.“But it was just too much energy to spend in one place. I don’t mind spending that much energy but I want to dole it out a little bit.”
Says Fox: “It takes a different degree of energy and concentration for me to do things than it does for you to do things. It’s not better or worse...It’s just different.
“It wasn’t so much what I couldn’t do on the show,” he continues. “It’s what I couldn’t do outside of it because I was tired. I couldn’t spend time with my kids because I was tired. I’d get home and I’d just be tired.”
Fighting Parkinson’s
“I don’t want to whine to you. You know, I’ll deal with it,” he tells Sawyer. “The difference between whining and advocacy is huge.”
Indeed, Fox intends to put his time toward fighting Parkinson’s and finding a cure for the illness that afflicts approximately 1 million Americans.
“At this point, I want someone to give me a magic pill that’s going to make it go away,” he says. “Well, that doesn’t exist, so I’m wasting my time if I ask someone for it. But now, having arrived here, I know what I want, I want what is reasonable, which is that there are people waiting to be empowered and motivated and let loose.”