Michael J. Fox Lives in the Present

Harry and Meghan are not the only royals to arrive in Montecito this year. Michael J. Fox and his wife, Tracy Pollan, have been here since the fall, enjoying some respite from the cold New York City winter and using their new home as a base in which to pod with their four adult children.

I spoke with Fox for almost an hour on Zoom last week. He truly is a prince of a human. Wise, courageous, and humble in the face of overwhelming challenges, Fox has dared more in his life than most of us will ever imagine. Diagnosed at age 29 with early onset Parkinson’s disease, he has sustained an extraordinary career through sheer determination and nearly unfathomable resiliency. Married for more than three decades to the love of his life, the proud father of a handsome family, and one of the most distinguished and prolific actors in American history, he’s now written four books, including his latest, No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality, which hit the New York Times best-seller list immediately upon publication in November of 2020.

As with his previous memoirs, Lucky Man and Always Looking Up, this one features the same self-effacing wit and absence of sentimentality that makes Fox’s voice as a writer so distinctive. Unlike more traditional autobiographers, Fox recounts much of his past through the lens of the lyrical present tense. This choice gives a jaunty immediacy to his frequent encounters with physical peril.