Michael J. Fox has a new interview with Esquire in which just his quotes and not the interviewer’s questions are published. He comes off as confident and insightful about the price of fame and the trials of life. He says that we focus on the wrong things in society by picking on Paris and Lindsay but that he understands why we need gossip to escape from the seriousness of life:

I see Us magazine and People magazine and all these tabloids — they have the same story over and over again. It’s the same every week, and I get all kind of smug about it, and I think, Come on, really? You care about this shit? But then cut to me going, “Get outta the corner! Get the f@*#in’ puck up! What the f@*# are ya doing?” It’s tough to stay off the subject of the fact that we’re all gonna die. We all need our subject changers. That’s what it all comes down to….

When I see pictures of Lindsay Lohan in the car or Paris Hilton — the level of glee and the level of viciousness — wow. We’ve got a war goin’ on. We’ve got people dying. And we’re all up in arms about this girl.

I have such empathy for all these young women. I was there, and I did all that crap. We’d rip it up, y’know? And we never got busted on any of that stuff.

“She deserves it” and “Who does she think she is?” Who does she think she is? She doesn’t think — she doesn’t know what she had for breakfast this morning. Who gives a shit? Relax, everybody. Calm down.

[From Esquire.com via Fark]

Fox also spoke candidly about his young wild years and about how he had to give up drinking and partying as it was too self destructive. As for his battle with Parkinsons, he says he’s accepted it and that he can’t complain. He also doesn’t care at all what he looks like and says it doesn’t matter. He spoke briefly about how Rush Limbaugh criticized him last year for campaigning for stem cell research by saying he didn’t take his medication. Fox said that was just how show business goes and that he didn’t fight back with Limbaugh because “Limbaugh is ripping himself apart well enough for all of us.”

I can’t always control my body the way I want to, and I can’t control when I feel good or when I don’t. I can control how clear my mind is. And I can control how willing I am to step up if somebody needs me.

That’s one of the things the illness has given me: It’s a degree of death. There’s a certain amount of loss, and whenever you have a loss, it’s a step toward death. So if you can accept loss, you can accept the fact that there’s gonna be the big loss. Once you can accept that, you can accept anything. So then I think, Well, given that that’s the case, let’s tip myself a break. Let’s tip everybody a break.

My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations.

Acceptance is the key to everything.

Which isn’t to say that I’m resigned to it, or that I’ve given up on it, or that I don’t think I have any effect on the outcome of it. It’s just that, as a reality, I get it.

Who gives a shit how it looks? It doesn’t matter. I look like what I look like.

[From Esquire.com]

There was an article in this week’s National Enquirer titled “Michael J. Fox losing ground in battle with Parkinsons,” which annoyed me to no end. They focused on a statement he made about how he can’t raise his glass to his mouth without effort and consulted Parkinson’s experts who said that he will probably need a walker soon, based on eyewitnesses who say he has trouble walking. It takes courage to admit that you need a walker or a wheelchair and to accept your condition. I have an autoimmune disorder that is now in remission and I have used both a walker and a wheelchair in my life. If that’s what it takes to get out of the house, you should use an assistive device, there’s no shame in it. Kudos to Fox for talking candidly about his disease and saying that he’s accepted what he can’t change and works on what he can. He seems to have a great attitude and I love how outspoken he is about everything.

Michael J. Fox is shown out with his wife Tracy Pollan at the Time Magazine most influential people of the year party on 5/8/07, thanks to PRPhotos.