Celeb Couples You Forgot Dated

It's lone fitting that Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan met connected a amusement called Family Ties.

A batch of attraction went into picking the close histrion to play Alex P. Keaton's girlfriend, wanting to find a beardown young pistillate to lucifer wits with the assemblage Reaganite. Enter Pollan, who astatine 25 was asked to play 18-year-old brainy dancer Ellen Reed, opposite Fox, who at 24 was playing 19 connected the seminal '80s sitcom.

"People got bushed of each those glitzy, power-hungry radical jumping successful the sack," Pollan told People successful 1986. "Alex and Ellen person an old-fashioned relationship. It's unjaded and optimistic with the sweetness of a archetypal love."

As it tends to spell successful existent life, Alex and Ellen didn't last—but Fox and Pollan recovered their everlastingly match.

Not right away, though...

In fact, the 2 seldom spent clip unneurotic disconnected acceptable because, arsenic Pollan besides told People, "I alert location to Kevin the 2nd filming shuts down." 

Of his co-star, Fox said, "Tracy is truly a food retired of h2o successful L.A. She's truthful unassuming and earthy that it is hard for her to acceptable in."

Meanwhile, helium had go 1 of the biggest stars successful Hollywood acknowledgment to a small 1985 movie called Back to the Future, so beingness had go a whirlwind for him, with movie offers pouring successful to supplement his full-time occupation on Family Ties.

"Before Tracy and I started seeing each other, I was this lad prince of Hollywood," Fox told Oprah Winfrey for O Magazine in 2002. "I had a Mercedes and a Ferrari and a Range Rover, and I was truly nuts."

Fox and Pollan's relationship is said to have blossomed connected the acceptable of the movie Bright Lights, Big City, which came retired successful 1988—not long after Lemon Sky, the TV movie connected which Bacon met the emotion of his life, Kyra Sedgwick, premiered. (Everyone is affable these days.)

Pollan told Winfrey astir Fox successful 2002, "From the beginning, I loved his consciousness of wit and that encephalon of his. He's truthful smart."

"It sounds truly horrible, but it was 1 of those things," Fox told People successful 1989. "Someone goes, 'Did you perceive that so-and-so aren't unneurotic anymore?' and you go, 'Hmm, that's excessively bad. Where's the phone?'"

He projected connected Dec. 26, 1987, 7 months aft they started dating. "I wasn't truly disquieted that she would accidental no," he recalled. "The toughest portion was trying to fig retired erstwhile to get married, and past to fig retired however cipher other could cognize astir it."

They had origin for concern. Pollan and Fox had started to get threatening letters—up to 15 a day—in February 1988 from a young pistillate who was yet charged with making terroristic threats and locked up successful a psychiatric installation for 9 months portion awaiting trial. The frightening messages prompted Fox to tighten information everyplace helium went, and Pollan started utilizing an alias erstwhile she traveled.

But they were determined not to enactment their beingness connected hold. The couple joined connected July 16, 1988, seemingly retired of the mode astatine West Mountain Inn successful Arlington, Vt.—and though the paparazzi recovered them anyway, sending helicopters and everything, they had a blast.

When Pollan got pregnant, Fox squeezed Lamaze classes into his shooting schedule. Their first child, son Sam Michael Fox, was calved connected May 30, 1989. "...Tracy had a truly bully pregnancy, and it was a bully delivery. Thank God, she was steadfast and Sam was healthy," Fox told People in December 1989. "We did the full womb euphony deal, wherever we enactment the headphones connected Tracy's tummy and played everything from Vivaldi to the Allman Brothers."

"It's been a beauteous engaged 10 years. It's felt similar 30," the histrion added. (Soon after, the accused threat-maker, Traci Marie Ledbetter, pleaded guilty to 3 counts of making violent threats and was sentenced to 3 years of probation and ordered to enactment distant from the family.)

But Fox and Pollan loved being parents.

"I benignant of unopen the doorway and said to everyone we emotion who wanted to spot the baby, 'Just springiness america a small spot of clip to get utilized to it ourselves,'" helium said. "What's absorbing is that the parental instinct conscionable kicks in. The adjacent happening you know, you've got a sore hep due to the fact that you're holding him each the time."

And for the clip being, wherever Fox went, his household joined him.

"Sam doesn't get it," helium said. "You can't explicate to him that I'm doing a movie. He doesn't truly care. All helium knows is that he's being dragged someplace. When helium was 3 months old, helium flew to Canada, past to New York City, past drove to Martha's Vineyard and Vermont, past flew from New Hampshire backmost to L.A. He's seeing the world, and it each looks the aforesaid to him. When you're that age, it's arsenic breathtaking to spell to Van Nuys."

Asked if they thought astir having much children, Fox said, "Tracy and I benignant of person an agreement. While we're inactive changing diapers, we don't adjacent speech astir it. But I deliberation it's likely; we some travel from large families."

Whether oregon not they looked to their ain still-married parents arsenic inspiration, helium added, "A batch of that is unspoken. We don't say, 'We're going to beryllium unneurotic forever.' It's not that Pollyannaish. We conscionable say, 'This is simply a chill thing. Let's not speech astir it—and possibly it won't spell away.'"

Strangely enough, life was astir to blindside the couple, though not successful a mode they could person ever prepared for.

"I thought I'd wounded my enarthrosis doing immoderate stunt due to the fact that I had a twitch successful my pinkie," Fox said on The Late Show With David Letterman in 2015. "And the doc said, 'You person Parkinson's disease.' He said, 'The bully quality is that you person 10 years of enactment left.'" 

Fox was 29 erstwhile helium was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, an incurable degenerative information of the cardinal tense strategy that affects centrifugal relation implicit time, successful 1991. At the time, however, nary 1 could truly tell, truthful helium opted not to share the quality extracurricular of a trusted interior circle. His family handled it quietly, but yet Fox fell into a slump and started drinking heavy and it would beryllium awhile earlier helium got a grip connected his caller reality.

"I utilized to portion to party," the actor recalled connected The Howard Stern Show in 2013, "but...now I was drinking unsocial and to conscionable not beryllium [present]. Every day."

"So erstwhile I did that," helium continued, "then determination was astir a twelvemonth of, like, a weapon combat successful a closet, wherever I conscionable didn't person my tools to woody with it. Then aft that, I went into therapy and it each started to get truly wide to me." He realized helium had nary prime but to instrumentality beingness "one time astatine a time." Once helium figured that out, "then everything started to truly crook the different way. My matrimony got great, and my career..."

In hindsight possibly Fox was purposely trying to gain arsenic galore paychecks arsenic possible, due to the fact that helium had aggregate movies travel retired each twelvemonth betwixt 1991 and 1996, erstwhile helium returned to TV arsenic the pb in Spin City, an ABC sitcom astir the goings-on down the scenes astatine the New York City mayor's office. Already a three-time Emmy victor for Family Ties, helium rapidly recovered himself backmost successful the moving each year, yet winning again successful 2000.

Later on, Howard Stern suggested that possibly Fox's matrimony "got great" aft helium realized that Pollan wasn't going anyplace aft his diagnosis.

"Exactly," Fox agreed.

The histrion had quipped to Oprah successful 2002, "When Chris Rock did a payment for our foundation, helium talked astir the matrimony vows. He said, 'What bash they mean erstwhile they say, 'For richer'? Of people a pistillate volition enactment with you if you're rich! The vows should ask, 'Will you enactment with maine if I'm sick and broke?' If the pistillate says yes, past you're in."

Pollan did find out sooner than she bargained for what "in sickness and successful health" means, but it ne'er occurred to her to not beryllium joined to Michael J. Fox. She quipped that her husband's diagnosis instantaneously cured her ain hypochondria, but acknowledged to Winfrey that she "absolutely" had to set to his disease.

"A batch of my accommodation has been dictated by Michael's constituent of view," she said. "He's truthful relaxed and truthful accepting of wherever helium is, and that makes it easier for me, the kids, and everyone astir him."

Fox and Pollan welcomed duplicate daughters Aquinnah Kathleen Fox and Schuyler Phyllis Fox on Feb. 15, 1995, past daughter Esmé Annabelle Fox was calved connected Nov. 3, 2001.

Pollan said that she of people had tougher days than others, but those were mostly during the clip erstwhile helium seemed unsure of what she was going to do, and that manifested successful his erratic behavior.

"Through it each we've loved each other," Fox said. "And that emotion ne'er died," Pollan added. "We had a coagulated instauration to statesman with."

"I deliberation she ever was the rock," Fox's Spin City co-star Alan Ruck told the New York Post successful 2013. "I deliberation that's wherefore she and Michael got married; I deliberation that's wherefore helium fell successful emotion with her —because that's the idiosyncratic she is. I didn't spot immoderate large translation successful Tracy. She was conscionable Tracy. She was ever determination for him."

When Winfrey asked if helium felt Parkinson's had been a acquisition for their marriage, giving them nary prime but to go stronger and much successful sync if they were to support connected going, Fox said, "I've often referred to Parkinson's arsenic the acquisition that keeps connected taking. It's a acquisition successful that it truly gave maine a full antithetic appreciation for life. I discovered that I wasn't maine minus Parkinson's. I was maine positive it. I person been enriched by what it has opened up for me. It hasn't allowed maine to instrumentality thing for granted."

Before the diagnosis, "I had been perpetually taking attraction of this and making definite that was okay, and present Tracy and I are conscionable successful it."

Meanwhile, that was more than 2 decades ago, and Fox and Pollan are inactive "just successful it."

"It's similar canine years!" Pollan said of their then-27-year matrimony successful 2015, telling People that "giving each different the payment of the doubt" has been a immense serenity-preserver successful their marriage. They were astatine the Michael J. Fox Foundation's yearly benefit A Funny Thing Happened connected the Way to Cure Parkinson's.

"There are truthful galore times erstwhile you person arguments, erstwhile you person things travel up, and it truly doesn't person thing to bash with what helium did, oregon said—it's however I americium projecting that onto myself," Pollan continued. "A batch of times he'll conscionable accidental to me, 'You cognize who I am, would I ever accidental thing to effort to wounded your feelings? Just springiness maine the payment of the doubt.'"

And then, of course, "He's an astonishing father...he's 1 of the smartest radical I know…and he's beauteous cute still!"

Pollan took the occasional acting occupation during the '00s, guest-starring on Law & Order: SVU and Medium and playing the pb successful a TV movie adaptation of James Patterson's 1st to Die. Her member is writer and professor Michael Pollan and Tracy collaborated with nutrient writer ma Corky and sisters Dina and Lauri on a cookbook, Pollan Family Table.

Fox slowed down successful the '00s to enactment connected Parkinson's-related causes but had scene-stealing impermanent arcs successful Scrubs, Boston Legal and Rescue Me, the past of which won him his 5th Emmy. A instrumentality to TV with his ain eponymous sitcom successful 2013 lone lasted for 1 season, but he's since had meaty recurring parts on The Good Wife and Designated Survivor. And, helium joined the elite radical of actors who've had a accidental to play a jackass mentation of themselves on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Most precocious helium reprised the relation of cocky lawyer Louis Canning on The Good Fight and released the 2023 documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie connected Apple+.

"Life is what you enactment into it and however overmuch you instrumentality retired of it," Fox told Good Housekeeping in 2011. "You enactment successful much than is expected, and you instrumentality retired little than you want. Everything is origin and effect. If you don't move, thing volition determination with you, and thing volition determination toward you. And truthful that involves hazard and besides resiliency. But I deliberation I conscionable truly privation my kids to bask beingness arsenic overmuch arsenic I do."

"Part of what I get precise powerfully from my dada is conscionable not worrying astir the things that worrying isn't going to help," Sam told Avenue successful 2015. "He tries to thatch that arsenic his mindset but if it's not your mindset it's precise hard to wrapper your caput around. My sisters, my mom, are optimists too, but they are not the aforesaid benignant of roll-with-the-punches optimists that my dada and I are. Luckily, I haven't had excessively galore punches."