Charlotte Foster
Family & Pets

Michael J Fox shares sad family news

Michael J Fox has revealed that his mother Phyllis died in late September at age 92. 

The actor shared the news during his appearance at the 2022 New York Comic Con on Saturday, where he also reunited with his Back to The Future co-star Christopher Lloyd. 

Michael remembered Phyllis by recalling a funny anecdote about how she thought he was being overworked when he was filming Family Ties in the daytime and Back to the Future at night in the 1980s.

He said, "I was 23 years old, and I called her, she was in Canada, and I said, 'They want me to do this Steven Spielberg movie, but I have to do it at night and I have to do Family Ties in the daytime.' And she said, 'You'll be too tired,"' he shared. 

The 61-year-old star told his mom in response, "I live for this kind of tired. It'll be okay."

He then added, "To this day — well, till two weeks ago — my mother thought it was a really bad idea for me to do Back to the Future. She loved the movie, [but she was right], I got tired."

During his Comic Con appearance, Michael also updated his fans on how his Parkinson's disease is progressing, and how he remains optimistic despite his ongoing health battle. 

"Well, in the last year I've broken my cheek, my eye socket, my hand, my elbow … my shoulder. I had a rough year of getting beat up. But that was really cool because it made me realise … with gratitude, it's sustainable," he stated.

"If you can find something to be grateful for, if you can find something and say, 'Well, that's good,' … It'll always get better… I'm very optimistic." 

"I'd say optimism is thinking that things are more likely to get better than they are to get worse. If you believe in that, and you are grateful for it, that'll sustain you the rest of your life," he added.

Image credits: Getty Images

Tags:
family & pets, Michael J Fox, mother, death, Parkinson's