Stronger than ever! Michael J. Fox and wife Tracy Pollan‘s lasting love has helped them navigate the biggest challenges, including his battle with Parkinson’s disease.
The Back to the Future star received his diagnosis in 1991, three years after he married Pollan. While reflecting on his health journey in the trailer for his 2023 documentary, Still, Fox remembered breaking the news to his spouse.
“I told Tracy … ‘In sickness and in health,’ I remember her whispering,” the Canadian actor said in a voiceover. “No one outside of my family knew. … But all those years of hiding was shaking me awake.”
The couple met while working together on season 4 of Family Ties in 1985. Pollan played Ellen Reed, the love interest of Fox’s Alex P. Keaton. Their real-life romance officially began after they reunited on the big screen for the drama Bright Lights, Big City.
Fox and the New York native made their red carpet debut at the 39th annual Emmy Awards in 1987, where he won the trophy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Family Ties. He proposed later that year.
The ’80s icon put a playful spin on the frenzy that surrounded his 1988 nuptials in an essay penned for Esquire. “I got married last summer and the reviews were terrible,” Fox wrote one year after tying the knot. “Now, bad reviews I can normally handle — you put your work out there and anybody can take their shot. But Tracy and I had never conceived of our wedding as part of our oeuvre.”
Despite planning to exchange vows “as far from Hollywood” as they could get — the ceremony took place in Vermont — they couldn’t avoid the attention. “Oblivious to all the madness going on outside, Tracy and I danced the night away,” Fox gushed.
After decades in the spotlight, the duo’s love for one another only grew deeper. Fox surprised Pollan with a romantic Parisian getaway in 2011 in honor of their 23rd wedding anniversary.
“Tracy is an art fanatic, so we walked miles to gallery after gallery after gallery,” the Spin City alum exclusively told Us after the trip. “I love to see her love to do what she loves to do, which is look at art, but it wore me out!”
The Michael J. Fox Foundation creator and Pollan — who share children Samuel, Aquinnah, Schuyler and Esmé — have remained each other’s biggest champions over the years. While accepting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2022 Governors Awards, the Good Wife alum — who previously retired from acting — sent a special shout-out to the Inventing Anna star.
“Tracy made it clear she was with me for the duration,” he said on stage, later gesturing to his trophy. “I cannot believe I have been standing here for this long, it’s a miracle. I cannot walk and carry this thing. But I ask Tracy to once again carry the weight.”
Scroll down for a glimpse of Fox and Pollan’s romance over the years:
