Last January, Michael J. Fox<\/strong><\/a> received a presidential medal of freedom<\/a> in recognition of his Parkinson\u2019s advocacy work from outgoing president Joe Biden.<\/strong> In USA Today,<\/em> he wrote about<\/a> how the incoming Trump administration could help find a cure for the disease he was diagnosed with in 1991 at age 29<\/a>. They\u2019d be wise to take the actor turned advocate seriously: His Michael J. Fox Foundation<\/a> has funded more than $2.5 billion in Parkinson\u2019s research over the last 25 years, raising more than $100 million in research annually. \u201cOur foundation directs more money towards Parkinson\u2019s research than the federal government,\u201d Fox tells Vanity Fair.<\/em> When asked for an update on working with President Donald Trump<\/strong> a year later, Fox retorts, \u201cHe\u2019s busy with Greenland<\/a>. More pressing concerns, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n If all goes to plan, Fox says he\u2019ll soon meet with US Department of Health and Human Services head Robert F. Kennedy Jr<\/a>.<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019m going to Washington next month and hopefully talk to Kennedy and find out what the government\u2019s game plan is on addressing brain research in general and taking a more serious approach to some of these things that are soluble,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just a weird disease. We always say genetics loads a gun and environment pulls the trigger. We\u2019re trying to figure out what\u2019s biological and what\u2019s chemical.\u201d<\/p>\n In season three of Shrinking<\/em><\/a> (which premieres on January 28), coping with a Parkinson\u2019s diagnosis fuels Fox\u2019s storyline opposite Harrison Ford<\/a>,<\/strong> who plays a therapist living with the degenerative brain disease. At this point in the conversation, a stoic, but engaged, Ford interjects: \u201cMichael raises more money for and has done more Parkinson\u2019s research than almost anybody in the world.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Ford in season three of Shrinking<\/em>.<\/span>Kevin Estrada\/Apple TV<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n Fox in season three of Shrinking<\/em>.<\/span>Courtesy of Apple<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a credit to our great people,\u201d Fox replies. \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating to know we\u2019re putting everything we can into it, and it would be nice to have the government behind us, but it seems that they\u2019re involved in other things that have less impact on peoples\u2019 lives.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2004, Fox and Ford were photographed shaking hands at a charity event where Nancy Reagan advocated for stem cell research in finding a cure for illnesses like Alzheimer\u2019s, which afflicted her husband, Ronald. \u201cI\u2019m sure I was very excited to see Harrison,\u201d says Fox, glancing across the Zoom screen at a smiling Ford. \u201cAnd Nancy Reagan\u2014she was a force.\u201d The former first lady was one of few conservatives at the time to publicly support embryonic stem cell research, which Republican lawmakers are still fighting to restrict<\/a> at the federal level. Fox supports stem cell research in finding a cure for Parkinson\u2019s disease. \u201cFor someone like Mrs. Reagan to step outside of political or ideological groupings and just speak to what she believes\u2026is tremendously valuable,\u201d he told reporters<\/a> at the 2004 event.<\/p>\n Fox poses alongside Ford and his wife Calista Flockhart at a 2004 charity event honoring former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who advocated for stem cell research in the study of diseases like Parkinson\u2019s.<\/span>Vince Bucci\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n After playing the conservative son of former-hippie parents on Family Ties,<\/em> then a know-it-all political strategist on Spin City,<\/em> Fox returns to his TV roots in Shrinking,<\/em> which last year earned Ford the first Emmy nomination of his career. Given Fox\u2019s longtime friendship with series creator Bill Lawrence,<\/strong> whom he previously worked with on Spin City<\/em>, the invite felt overdue. \u201cIt was a short and profane conversation,\u201d Fox recalls. \u201cI said, \u2018You\u2019re doing a fucking show about Parkinson\u2019s with Harrison fucking Ford, and you don\u2019t call me?\u2019\u201d Ford tilts his head back with a chuckle.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I\u2019m calling you now,\u201d Lawrence said, to which Fox replied, \u201c\u2018No, I\u2019m<\/em> calling you.<\/em>\u201d It was a fitting moment, as Lawrence has \u201ca history of pulling me back out of retirement,\u201d Fox says. \u201cI did Scrubs<\/em> [which Lawrence created] in the early \u201900s after I\u2019d retired from Spin City,<\/em> and so I knew he\u2019d make it happen. He always was a talented kid. Talented kid.<\/em>\u201d Fox shakes his head, \u201cHe\u2019s what, 60 years old?\u201d (Lawrence is 57; Fox is 64.)<\/p>\n Although nearly two decades younger than a now 83-year-old Ford, both men, and their characters on Shrinking,<\/em> grapple with their mortality. \u201cWe\u2019re on the same shitty train to sucksville,\u201d Fox\u2019s character, Jerry, says to Ford\u2019s character, Paul, as both men await Parkinson\u2019s treatment. Later in the season, the curmudgeonly Paul finds renewed zest for his profession\u2014and strategies for living with his diagnosis\u2014when he provides therapy to other people with Parkinson\u2019s disease, including Jerry. \u201cThe thing about therapy is it\u2019s a talking cure, but there\u2019s no talking cure for Parkinson\u2019s, so those two worlds have always had an uneasy relationship,\u201d Fox explains. \u201cI couldn\u2019t have gotten through Parkinson\u2019s without therapy, but you find yourself educating the therapist as much as they\u2019re educating you. You have to paint a picture of the ground you\u2019re living on. And it\u2019s very hard to explain to people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6977e667d3f1fc0ae51d680e\/3:2\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/shrinking-season-3-04.jpg\"\/)
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