Baywatch Lifeguard Mike Newman Opens Up About His 16-Year Struggle with Parkinson’s: ‘Everything Changes’ (Exclusive)

In 2006, Mike Newman’s wife noticed a strange “tremor” in his movements.

Newman, a 90s television mainstay as lifeguard Mike ‘Newmie’ Newman in the long-running action series Baywatch, he started walking strangely. He was getting slower in the pool and slower in running – very unusual for a 6’5,” 250 lb lifelong athlete.

At first, the retired actor and firefighter, then 50, assumed his body was simply wearing out as he aged. But when family members and a concerned neighbor asked him to see a doctor, he figured it wouldn’t hurt. He was prescribed a pill called Azilect – an MAO-B indicator that slows down the breakdown of dopamine in the brain – and it was like some kind of magic. Almost immediately, all his physical problems disappeared. He returned the next day and excitedly told the doctor that he felt “great.”

Unfortunately, it turned out that there was nothing to celebrate. In a disastrous turn of events, his doctor explained that it was actually not good thing that the pill helped – because it meant he had Parkinson’s.

Nothing will ever be the same for Newman.

“Everything changes,” first Baywatch star, now 66, tells PEOPLE. “All those things you thought you’d do with your children and grandchildren, the pictures we were going to take, all the plans I had… stopped.”

Michael Newman, actor from “Baywatch”.

Michael Newman

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As he sits in his home in Pacific Palisades, California, chatting via Zoom, a vintage poster of a lifeguard stand can be seen in the background. Staying in the Los Angeles area wasn’t his original plan, he says. Before his diagnosis, he and his wife Sarah, 67, planned to retire in Hawaii. He even built their dream home with his bare hands, complete with an Olympic size swimming pool. He and his wife have been married for 36 years and share a son, Chris (34), and a daughter, Emily (31). Through their daughter, they also have a granddaughter, Charlie (1).

Now spending his retirement in LA instead of Hawaii, Newman will soon return to a familiar place: television. He’s long since done with his acting days — “If you didn’t have to be there, why would you be?” jokes about Hollywood — but he’s set to play a prominent role in an upcoming four-part series looking at cultural influence Baywatch.

Directed by Matt Felker, Baywatch: The American Dream will dive deep into the syndicated phenomenon of 1989-2001. and the lives of its cast, including Pamela Anderson, David Hasselhoff and Jason Momoa. Despite the star-studded cast of the original series, Felker was always most interested in talking to Newman.

Pamela Anderson and Michael Newman on the set of “Baywatch”.

Michael Newman

“I noticed even on our social media that Mike, surprisingly, had a bigger fan base than almost any other actor, probably on the same level as Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff,” the director told PEOPLE. “Everybody loved this guy. They thought it was just so cool.”

His Baywatch the character, Newmie Newman, was a relaxed caricature of himself. He wasn’t even on the opening credits for years. But as the only actual lifeguard in the cast — not to mention, a working firefighter — Newman made himself invaluable on set. He performed water stunts that no one else could and offered the writers guidance on rescue scenes in exchange for a few more lines. It paid off in the end.

“I was too useful to get rid of,” he says with a laugh. “I basically started out as a stuntman, and after seven years of being off the mark, I finally got the anointing and was allowed to be front and center.”

When Felker first met the former actor, he felt a “gut reaction” in his stomach. He explains that Newman doesn’t have the tremors that people usually associate with the disease — he’s still in top physical shape, but the lower body is noticeably affected. He has trouble walking and sometimes gets lost in his train of thought when he speaks. Felker says you wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell what was going on just by looking at him, just that something was wrong.

“I didn’t know the guy and I almost cried,” he says of their first meeting. “It affects you because it’s like, ‘That’s not right.'”

At first, Newman was hesitant to open up about his diagnosis in the documentary — he didn’t want to be known as just “the guy with Parkinson’s,” he explains. But after spending more time with Felker, he changed his mind and gave the director his blessing to share his story, authentically, with the world.

Director Matt Felker (L) and “Baywatch” actor Michael Newman.

Michael Newman

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The two have since developed a close relationship, and Felker, 43, compares them Baywatch alum to the paternal figure. Three or four times a week the director brings him to Malibu and helps him get into the ocean.

Newman never stopped entering the water. In fact, he is as active as ever. He swims, kayaks or runs on the sand every day. He explains that the best treatment for Parkinson’s disease is exercise, at least 45 minutes a day of intense cardio. In this regard, he says he considers himself “lucky”.

“I trained for this,” he says, referring to his lifelong passion for physical activity. “Someone who is 65 years old and not very athletic, if they got the news that they had Parkinson’s disease, it wouldn’t turn out so well. I beat them all, I guess, if you could call it ‘beating’.”

Felker agrees that the ocean is where Newman shines. “He’s like Superman in the water and Clark Kent on land,” he explains. “You see him on land and he’s stumbling, stumbling … but put him in the water and the guy’s like Superman.”

This makes sense considering Newman has spent essentially his entire life in the water. In his youth, he was a junior lifeguard at the Santa Monica Pier and then went on to swim for Santa Monica City College. He admits he “surprised myself” by making the college team and grins as he recalls once coming third in a 250-man race. His son Chris is also an LA County Lifeguard and carries the torch of his legacy.

(From left) Michael Newman, daughter Emily Bright, wife Sarah Newman and son Chris Newman.

Michael Newman

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It’s been 16 years since Newman was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He admits that most people with the disease don’t last that long and still live comfortably. “It’s a slow burn,” he muses. “Parkinson’s disease is not waiting for you. It keeps creeping in.”

He describes the disease as a “sinister” thing. Symptoms, he says, “progress so slowly that you hardly notice they’re changing.” His primary treatment is his rigorous exercise routine.

After staying mostly out of the public eye for the past decade, he’s now deciding to tell his story in the hopes that it might help others. Participation in Felker’s documentary came with the condition that he would work with the Michael J. Fox Foundation and Cedars-Sinai to raise funds to fight Parkinson’s disease. “This might not help me,” he says. “But it will help someone along the way.”

Looking back on his life now, Newman admits there are “a lot of things” he would have done “differently”. But he is also immensely grateful for many things: his wife and children, the rescue competitions he has participated in around the world, all the “good people” he has met throughout his career, and the many years he has spent on Baywatch.

Michael Newman stars in “Baywatch.”

Fremantle Media/Shutterstock

“Where would I be without it?” he says about the show. “Well, I guess that would be a rather boring life.”

And, despite everything, Newman did not lose his Baywatch charm.

“There’s nothing in the world I can’t do,” he declares. “Whether it’s boating or scuba diving or tackling a jet ski guy.”

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Source: HIS Education