MOVIES
Michael J. Fox and wife share secrets to long marriage
The couple, married for 34 years, spoke about what it takes to make a marriage work at Fox’s ‘Still’ premiere in Texas.
Michael J. Fox and his wife, Tracy Pollan, made the trip to Austin, Texas, to appear at the premiere of ‘Still’, a documentary about Fox’s life.
The film focuses on Fox overcoming health issues such as Parkinsons’ and alcoholism, as well as the trials and tribulations of fame, and insight into the actor’s personal life and relationships.
The SXSW Film Festival
The SXSW Film Festival, held from March 10 to 18 at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas, premiers over 30 feature films and 80 short films.
While at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Fox and Pollan spoke about their long, 34-year marriage and how the two have been able to make it work all these years by supporting one another.
How to deepen a marriage
The long-wed couple, who share four children - Sam Michael, age 33, 28-year-old twin daughters, Aquinnah Kathleen and Schuyler Frances, and Esmé Annabelle, who is 21 - told People about their marriage secrets.
“We really listen to each other, we are there for each other when we need each other,” said Pollan. “And then we also give each other space when that’s needed. Just feeding off of what’s needed at the moment and trying to be there.”
Meanwhile, Fox was quick to lift up his wife.
“Tracy gives our family everything that we need,” Fox said. “Any good in our family, anything good that we do, comes from her.”
A little bit of humor goes a long way
Another way Fox and Pollan, who married in 1998, make their marriage work is by having a laugh — even when times are hard.
Fox told a story from back when he was first getting ready to launch his new charity, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, a nonprofit that works to find a cure for Parkinsons’.
While he was still in the planning stages, he was trying to settle on a name for the organization, recalling with a laugh that originally he “didn’t want to call it that”.
“I wanted to call it PD cure,” Fox said. “And I told Tracy and she said, ‘Pedicure?’”
The foundation has raised over $1.5 billion for Parkinsons’ disease research.