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"Devastating blow": Back to the Future star's tragic family news

Back to the Future star Lea Thompson, renowned for her role as Lorraine, the endearing mother of Michael J. Fox's iconic character, Marty McFly, has recently shared some deeply saddening family news. The 62-year-old actress opened up about her personal struggle, revealing that both of her older brothers have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease within a few months of each other. This announcement resonated profoundly with her fans and followers, especially given Michael J. Fox's well-known battle with the condition since his diagnosis in 1991 at the tender age of 29. In an emotionally charged Instagram post, Thompson shared her family's ordeal, writing, "Both of my beloved exceptional big brothers have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s within a few months of each other. It was such a devastating blow." She went on to describe how the disease had stealthily crept into their lives, noting that her brothers had been displaying signs of slowing down, but the true nature of their condition hadn't been immediately apparent. Fortunately, their early diagnosis, made possible by the diligent efforts of researchers supported by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, has offered them access to medications and tools that have significantly improved their quality of life. Accompanying her heartfelt message, Thompson posted pictures of herself with her two brothers during a day of golf, capturing a precious family moment. Another poignant photo showed her brothers with their arms wrapped around each other. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyz8bCxO9GF/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyz8bCxO9GF/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Lea Thompson (@lea_thompson)</a> </div> </blockquote> Thompson's dedication to raising awareness and support for Parkinson's research was evident when she expressed feeling "honoured" to be part of a "public service announcement" for the Michael J. Fox Foundation's gala, sharing a behind-the-scenes photo from the campaign. She also expressed gratitude for the support of scientists, philanthropists, and her "movie son", Michael J. Fox, who has been an unwavering advocate for Parkinson's research. The response from Thompson's fans and followers was heartwarming, as they flocked to the comments section to express their solidarity. Messages of love, hope and empathy poured in from all corners, with many sharing personal connections to Parkinson's disease and the advances in treatment and therapies they have witnessed. Parkinson's disease is a debilitating neurodegenerative condition, and it is the second most common neurological disorder in Australia, with over 100,000 Australians grappling with its impact. Common symptoms include tremors, slowness of movement, and rigidity. Michael J. Fox's diagnosis at the astonishingly young age of 29 stands as a stark reminder of the disease's unpredictable reach, as the average age of diagnosis hovers around 65. Parkinson's disease results from the brain's inability to produce sufficient dopamine, a neurotransmitter vital for controlling movement. Diagnosing Parkinson's is not straightforward; it often relies on clinical evaluation by specialists such as neurologists, who meticulously assess clinical signs and symptoms, as there are no definitive laboratory tests like blood work or brain scans available for diagnosis. Lea Thompson's open acknowledgment of her family's struggle with Parkinson's disease not only shines a light on the challenges faced by those living with the condition but also underscores the importance of continued research and support for those affected. Images: Instagram

Caring

Back to the Future stars reunite

It’s been 37 years since the cinematic masterpiece, Back to the Future part 1, graced our screens. You might be wondering where they are now, although the appropriate question would be, “when the hell are they?” The Back to the Future stars joined up at a fan convention in Portland, USA, and the excitement from fans sighting Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Thomas Wilson used up a lot more energy than 1.21 gigawatts. Last year, Fox and Lloyd came together on stage at Comic-Con in New York in an emotional display, which brought fans in the audience to tears. On stage, Fox said, referring to his co-star Lloyd, “The best part of the movie was working with Chris,” going on to say he was a genius, also revealing there was “immediate chemistry” between the pair. Fox played the iconic Marty McFly in the 1985 movie. Director Robert Zemeckis had originally cast Eric Stolz as Marty, however, due to conflict with his schedule on Family Ties, Stolz couldn’t continue with the project. Stolz started filming in November 1984 but was replaced by early January. Aside from the schedule conflict with Stolz, it was reported that early footage was also underwhelming. Now that’s heavy! Fox officially joined the production in mid-January of 1985. Fox played Marty McFly in all three Back to the Future movies, Great Scott! The fans are on a sweet nostalgia trip seeing the cast back together after over three decades. Image credit: Instagram

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"Devastating": Jack Thompson reveals the iconic movie role that got away

Jack Thompson is a name many would recognise. He can boast a stellar acting career, however he has admitted there is one role that might have changed his whole life if he’d gotten it. Appearing on Anh's Brush With Fame on Tuesday, the 80-year-old Aussie screen legend revealed he only just missed out on the lead in Schindler's List. The Steven Spielberg-directed film was released in 1994. <img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7837628/jack-thompson-2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/fdf91a1ce4d54da3aab296670b96dedf" /> The iconic movie won seven Oscars, with Liam Neeson ultimately cast in the role. The 68-year-old Irish actor also picked up a Best Actor Oscar nomination, but Jack said the role was “almost” his. “I'd done camera tests, shot a couple of scenes, and then did a whole afternoon with Spielberg,” he explained to host Anh Do. “At the end of it [Steven Spielberg] said, ‘Well, there's not much doubt.’” Jack said Steven then told him that he had to catch a flight to New York, and they'd sign the contracts when he returned on the Monday. But while he was in New York, the legendary director met up with Liam and had a change of heart. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7837629/jack-thompson-1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/688a7d12ba824ab8a97d2aeecb70ee7e" /> Liam Neeson in the Schindler's List Jack said while the news was “a bit devastating”, he was ultimately “OK” with it, due to the complex nature of the business. However he confessed that the full impact of what had occurred only struck him ”months and months and months later”. “I’m on my farm, I've gone right up to the back hill, and I get off the horse… and [I'm thinking about] what had just happened with Schindler's List and I just [yelled]: ’F***’,” he admitted.

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The awkward moment between Prince William and Emma Thompson

Academy Award winning actress Emma Thompson was recently on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and shared some details about what happened whilst she was being awarded her damehood from Prince William. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> Becoming a Dame was nothing compared to the honor I awarded Emma Thompson. <a href="https://t.co/DtMTMRNEh8">pic.twitter.com/DtMTMRNEh8</a> — Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheEllenShow/status/1116814002401660928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 12, 2019</a></blockquote> As it turns out, Prince William had pinned the dame pins in a bit of an awkward position. Thompson re-enacted the moment with DeGeneres to explain just how awkward it was. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> Congratulations to Dame Emma Thompson! Today at Buckingham Palace, the actor received her Damehood from The Duke for services to Drama. <a href="https://t.co/1gSfaawBii">pic.twitter.com/1gSfaawBii</a> — Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) <a href="https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1060200145969733632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2018</a></blockquote> "He placed it right there,” Thompson explained through laughter. "And it's a little bit of a nipple moment and you go, 'Gosh, I wasn't expecting that.'" Thompson, 59, also joked about how she was “pretty low slung these days”, so when Prince William placed the two pins on her, it hurt “both times”. Naturally, being hurt generates a reaction to the pain. However, Thompson revealed that she made an “inappropriate” noise in the palace. "I made a very loud and inappropriate noise in Buckingham Palace," she admitted. The joy of receiving a damehood couldn’t be overlooked though, as Thompson was thrilled to receive it. It’s not the first time Thompson has had an awkward run-in with Prince William. When she received her honorary title last November, she shared a joke with the Prince. She told the Associated Press: “I love Prince William. I’ve known him since he was little, and we just sniggered at each other,” she explained. “I said, ‘I can’t kiss you, can I?’ And he said, ‘No, don’t!'"

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Emma Thompson’s powerful open letter: “Why I quit”

Two-time Oscar award winner Emma Thompson has acknowledged and explained why she refused to work with Pixar co-founder and former Walt Disney animation chief, John Lasseter, in an open letter to Skydance Media. Lasseter has previously been accused of sexual misconduct with female employees. Thompson quit the animated film project Luck last month after Skydance chief executive, David Ellison, hired Lasseter who was forced out of Disney just last year after owning up to “missteps” in his behaviour towards employees. In Thompson’s letter to Ellison, she wrote that she felt it was “very odd to me that you and your company would consider hiring someone with Mr Lasseter’s pattern of misconduct given the present climate”. “If a man has been touching women inappropriately for decades, why would a woman want to work for him if the only reason he’s not touching them inappropriately now is that it says in his contract that he must behave ‘professionally’?” she continued. “If a man has made women at his companies feel undervalued and disrespected for decades, why should the women at his new company think that any respect he shows them is anything other than an act that he’s required to perform by his coach, his therapist and his employment agreement?” Thompson also acknowledged the company would be paying Lasseter generously in the role he was given, “How much money are the employees at Skydance being paid to GIVE him that second chance?” She continued her letter saying even though she “regrets” having to quit the film since she desperately wanted to work with director Alessandro Carloni, she can “only do what feels right during these difficult times of transition and collective consciousness raising. I am well aware that centuries of entitlement to women’s bodies, whether they like it or not, is not going to change overnight. Or in a year. But I am also aware that if people who have spoken out – like me – do not take this sort of a stand then things are very unlikely to change at anything like the pace required to protect my daughter’s generation.” Thompson’s letter was first published by <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-mn-emma-thompson-john-lasseter-skydance-20190226-story.html">The Los Angeles Times </a>and was confirmed for authenticity by Thompson’s representative. Lasseter’s hiring stimulated backlash, voicing that he didn’t deserve a second chance so quickly. Time’s Up, a non-profit organisation formed to rise against sexual harassment and gender inequality, said his hiring “endorses and perpetuates a broken system that allows powerful men to act without consequence”. Shortly after allegations against Harvey Weinstein emerged in 2017, Lasseter announced he was taking a six-month “sabbatical” from Disney and apologised “to anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of an unwanted hug” or any gesture that made them feel “disrespected or uncomfortable”. Disney revealed it was permanently cutting ties with Lasseter last June. When hired by Ellison, Lasseter said he had spent the last year in “deep reflection, learning how my actions unintentionally made colleagues uncomfortable, which I deeply regret and apologise for” Ellison said Lasseter had been “forthright in taking ownership of his behaviour” and that he didn’t take the decision of hiring him lightly. What would you have done in this situation? Let us know in the comments below.

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The moment Emma Thompson tried to sneak a kiss from Prince William

Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson has received one of Britain’s highest awards and used the opportunity to playfully joke with the second-in-line to the throne, Prince William. On Wednesday, the Love Actually star was invited to Buckingham Palace to be appointed a Dame Commander of the Oder of the British Empire. The honour, which is the female equivalent of a knighthood, was made even more special as it was given to her by her long-time friend. Recalling the ceremony to reporters, Thompson said: “I love Prince William. I’ve known him since he was little, and we just sniggered at each other. I said, ‘I can’t kiss you, can I?’ And he said, ‘No, don’t!'” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> Congratulations to Dame Emma Thompson! Today at Buckingham Palace, the actor received her Damehood from The Duke for services to Drama. <a href="https://t.co/1gSfaawBii">pic.twitter.com/1gSfaawBii</a> — Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) <a href="https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/status/1060200145969733632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2018</a></blockquote> Although Thompson didn’t receive a kiss from the prince, she praised the royal father-of-three for all his accomplishments. “He’s looking wonderful and doing so well,” the actress, who wore sneakers and a suit to the ceremony, commented. “He said, ‘This day isn’t about me, it’s about you.'” “It’s really lovely because I’ve always loved the boys, and I’ve always been a long-term correspondent with their dad,” Thompson added. “It’s a very lovely feeling.” After Prince Charles went through his divorce with Princess Diana in 1996, Thompson wrote him several letters to lift his spirits. “I would get periodical messages from the boys that look after him at Highgrove saying: ‘[Could you] drop him a note because he’s a bit low in the water,’ so I’d pick up my pen and write as funny a letter as I could think of,” Thompson revealed in the book Charles: The Heart of a King.

News

Emma Thompson calls out Hollywood’s anorexia problem

Emma Thompson has criticised Hollywood for the intense pressure it places on actresses to be thin, revealing she almost quit the film Brideshead Revisited when another actress was asked by the film’s producers to lose weight. Thompson, speaking on Swedish talk show <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eJK0xgLon0" target="_blank">Skavlan</a> while visiting Scandinavia with Greenpeace, unleashed her frustrations over the industries obsession with weight. “There was a wonderful actress in a film I did called Brideshead Revisited,” the 57-year-old said, referring to the 2008 adaption. “The producer said to her, ‘Will you lose some weight?’ And she was absolutely exquisite!” “I said to them, ‘If you speak to her about this again, on any level, I will leave this picture. You are never to do that,’” Thompson revealed. “It’s evil what’s happening and what’s going on there, and it’s getting worse. The French fashion industry said they would get rid of size zero and then, you know, they didn’t. “The anorexia – there’s so many kids, girls and boys now, and actresses who are very, very thin into their 30s, who simply don’t eat. They don’t eat,” she said. “Sometimes there are just some subjects that you absolutely have to make noise about because it’s so tedious and it’s gone on and on.” In the interview, the British actress joked about how she’s never moved to LA because she’s“too fat” to live in Hollywood. “I never moved to the US,” she said. “I couldn’t. Can you imagine? Every time I go to LA I think, ‘Oh God, I am too fat to go there.’” Thompson also revealed how she handles comments about her weight, saying she simply retorts: “Sorry, do you want me to be an actress or a model?”

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"Devastating blow": Back to the Future star's tragic family news

Back to the Future stars reunite

"Devastating": Jack Thompson reveals the iconic movie role that got away

The awkward moment between Prince William and Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson’s powerful open letter: “Why I quit”

The moment Emma Thompson tried to sneak a kiss from Prince William

Emma Thompson calls out Hollywood’s anorexia problem