Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan’s Relationship Timeline

Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan have one of the most enduring romances in Hollywood.

The two actors met in 1985 when they were cast as each other’s love interests on Family Ties. Their relationship remained platonic, however, as they were both dating other people at the time. A few years later, Fox and Pollan reunited on-screen in Bright Lights, Big City, and sparks flew. Within seven months, the pair were engaged. They went on to tie the knot in 1988 and welcome four children.

Now, 35 years later, the couple are still going strong, and their relationship has endured many challenges, including Fox’s Parkinson’s diagnosis.

“My best life now is I enjoy my family so much,” the Back to the Future star told PEOPLE in October 2022. “Tracy and the kids are amazing. I know that sounds boring, it sounds like a fairy tale, but we’ve been married 30-something years, so we’ve got something figured out.”

From supporting each other through life’s ups and downs to raising four kids together, here’s everything to know about Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan’s relationship.

1985: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan meet on the set of Family Ties

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Fox and Pollan met when she landed a role on Family Ties, playing the smart and sensitive Ellen Reed, the love interest of Fox’s character, Alex P. Keaton. In fact, Fox actually played a role in her casting, choosing Pollan out of a number of candidates with whom he read. “Tracy had strength but she wasn’t overbearing,” Fox said of his then-costar in 1986. Fox also noted that Pollan often spent time on set sitting by herself, lost in thought. “I don’t want to disturb her but I’m really dying to know what she’s thinking about,” he said.

While the two had on-screen chemistry, their relationship was platonic in real life. At the time, Fox was in a relationship with actress Nancy McKeon, while Pollan was dating actor Kevin Bacon.

1987: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan reunite on the set of Bright Lights, Big City, and begin dating

The actors reunited when they were both cast in the 1988 film Bright Lights, Big City. Both Fox and Pollan were single at this time and they began dating.

“It sounds really horrible, but it was one of those things,” Fox recalled to PEOPLE in 1989. “Someone goes, ‘Did you hear that so-and-so aren’t together anymore?’ And you go, ‘Hmm, that’s too bad. Where’s the phone?’ ”

September 20, 1987: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan make their red carpet debut

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Pollan was all smiles next to her beau at the 39th annual Emmy Awards, where Fox won the Emmy for lead actor in a comedy series for his role on Family Ties. The awards show marked the couple’s first red carpet appearance together.

December 26, 1987: Michael J. Fox proposes to Tracy Pollan

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It didn’t take long for Fox to know that Pollan was the one. He proposed just before the new year, on Dec. 26, 1987.

“I wasn’t really worried that she would say no,” he later told PEOPLE during his 1989 cover story. “The toughest part was trying to figure out when to get married, and then to figure out how nobody else could know about it.”

July 16, 1988: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan wed

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Fox and Pollan got married on July 16, 1988, in Woodstock, Vermont. While the couple had initially wanted a private wedding, paparazzi found out the location of the nuptials and caused quite a spectacle in the small Vermont town, and the wedding had to have intense security measures.

“It was nuts,” Fox told PEOPLE in 1989. “Inside, it was like anybody else’s wedding. It was a house party. We rolled back the rugs and danced the night away. You’ve got everyone in the world that you love in a one-acre area, and five idiots are flying over your head. You can’t let kids run down the street because there are people with cameras there, grabbing them and pumping them and scaring them.”

Despite the surrounding press circus, Fox and Pollan said “I do” in an interfaith ceremony attended by her parents, brother and two bridesmaid sisters, as well as Fox’s parents and four siblings from Vancouver, Canada. Other guests of note included Woody Harrelson, Leif Garrett, Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan.

May 30, 1989: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan welcome their first baby, Sam Michael

The following year, Fox and Pollan welcomed their first son, Sam Michael, on May 30, 1989.

“Tracy had a really good pregnancy, and it was a good delivery. Thank God, she was healthy and Sam was healthy,” Fox told PEOPLE later that year for his cover story.

Prior to Sam’s birth, Fox was looking forward to becoming a dad and spent his free time reading childcare books. Even his friends could see how excited he was, including actor Woody Harrelson.

“He had a library in his house, just stacks of books,” Harrelson told PEOPLE. “He would talk about having a kid and how excited he was. I knew he was going to be a great father because it was all he could think about. It just consumed him at all hours.”

June 1, 1989: Michael J. Fox publishes an essay about his wedding to Tracy Pollan

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A year after they tied the knot, Fox wrote about the spectacle of his wedding and its press coverage for Esquire with the help of his brother-in-law, journalist and author Michael Pollan.

“I got married last summer and the reviews were terrible,” Fox wrote. “Now, bad reviews I can normally handle — you put your work out there and anybody can take their shot. But Tracy and I had never conceived of our wedding as part of our oeuvre.”

He recounted the lead-up to their wedding, including finding a venue “as far from Hollywood” as they could get and circumventing the media’s “massive, multiple-front offensive” to locate it.

Despite these challenges, Fox and Pollan pushed through the evening. “I paid for our privacy in the coin of bad press. The tabloids projected the embarrassment of their failure on Tracy and me,” he wrote. “Oblivious to all the madness going on outside, Tracy and I danced the night away.”

1991: Michael J. Fox is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease

In 1991, Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, an incurable degenerative condition of the central nervous system that affects motor function over time. He was 29 years old at the time and did not go public with his diagnosis for several years.

Fox said he first noticed a “twitch” in his left pinkie while on the set of Doc Hollywood. After undergoing tests, he received the diagnosis. “It was incomprehensible,” he later told PEOPLE in 1998. “The doctor said I would be able to function for years and years.”

February 15, 1995: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan welcome twin girls, Aquinnah Kathleen and Schuyler Frances

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection

On Feb. 15, 1995, Fox and Pollan welcomed a pair of twin girls, Aquinnah Kathleen and Schuyler Frances, in New York City.

In 2009, Fox joked about his house full of women on Live with Regis and Kelly, saying that Aquinnah and Schuyler were “wonderfully sweet girls,” but being the sole male was still a challenge (their son Sam was away at college). “It’s like, wear a flak jacket and just keep your head in!” Fox joked.

1998: Michael J. Fox goes public with his Parkinson’s diagnosis

While he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991, Fox did not speak publicly about his diagnosis for over seven years. In 1998, Fox was tired of being bullied by the paparazzi and decided to open up about his diagnosis.

“It was seven or eight years after I had been diagnosed,” he recalled in 2021. “The paparazzi and stuff, they would stand outside my apartment and heckle at me, like, ‘What’s the matter with you?’ I said, ‘I can’t be making my neighbors deal with this,’ so I came out, and it was great. It was a great thing.”

Fox was met with words of support and encouragement. “It was a great surprise to me that people responded the way they responded,” he said. “They responded with interest, in the desire to find an answer to the disease, and then I saw that as a great opportunity. I didn’t get put in this position to squander it.”

May 2000: Michael J. Fox creates a foundation for Parkinson’s research and focuses on family with Tracy Pollan

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In May 2000, Fox launched the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. A few months prior, Fox had announced that he would be leaving Spin City, his ABC sitcom, to focus on his family with Pollan and the foundation.

“I could not be more proud of the show, our cast, writers, crew, and all that we have accomplished over the last four years, yet I feel that right now my time and energy would be better spent with my family and working toward a cure for Parkinson’s disease,” he said in a statement, per the Washington Post.

​​The foundation has since raised over $1 billion for Parkinson’s research, but Fox has insisted there is still more work to be done. “With the billion dollars in research that we funded, it’s great, we’re doing more things but we’re not done yet,” he told PEOPLE in 2021.

November 5, 2001: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan welcome daughter Esmé Annabelle

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The Fox family welcomed another daughter, Esmé Annabelle, on Nov. 5, 2001. The couple announced that they were expecting in May 2001.

September 25, 2013: Michael J. Fox credits Tracy Pollan with helping him get sober

In 2013, Fox spoke to Howard Stern about his struggle with alcoholism following his Parkinson’s diagnosis.

​​”My first reaction to it was to start drinking heavily. I used to drink to party, but now I was drinking alone and … every day,” Fox said.

He continued, “Once I did that it was then about a year of like a knife fight in a closet, where I just didn’t have my tools to deal with it.”

The actor credits Pollan with helping him realize he needed help, recalling a moment where she looked at him and said, “Is this what you want? This is what you want to be?”

Fox then started going to Alcoholics Anonymous and therapy, which he said taught him to “take one day at a time.” He added, “Eventually, things got pretty great.”

August 15, 2018: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan reflect on 30 years of marriage

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Just after they celebrated their 30th anniversary, Fox and Pollan revealed what makes their relationship work.

“Big families, middle children,” Fox told PEOPLE. “Sense of humor. Both our families had that.”

Pollan added, “It was us against the world. That’s exactly what we’ve created.”

When asked if they had any marriage advice, Pollan said, “Just give each other the benefit of the doubt … He assumes I’m doing the best I can.”

The actress also revealed her first impression of Fox, telling PEOPLE, “He was very cocky … He was funny, but he was cocky.”

2018: Tracy Pollan supports Michael J. Fox during “darkest moment”

In 2018, Fox underwent spinal surgery to remove a noncancerous tumor that was growing rapidly and causing horrible pain throughout his body. Post-surgery, Fox spent four months learning how to walk again.

Feeling confident in his recovery, he vacationed with his family and then returned to N.Y.C. to film a cameo for a Spike Lee movie. But an unexpected fall the next morning shut down his plans for the cameo and left him with a badly broken arm.

“That was definitely my darkest moment,” Fox later told PEOPLE. “I just snapped. I was leaning against the wall in my kitchen, waiting for the ambulance to come, and I felt like, ‘This is as low as it gets for me.’ It was when I questioned everything. Like, ‘I can’t put a shiny face on this. There’s no bright side to this, no upside. This is just all regret and pain.’ ”

With the support of Pollan and his kids, Fox got through the dark spot and adopted a “60-year-old man’s optimism,” finding joy in time spent with his family.

​​”My life now is quiet, and I’m actually having a really good time,” Fox said. “People don’t believe me, but I love life. I love being with my family. I love being with Tracy. I love that I don’t do a lot of useless stuff that I used to do, because I don’t have the energy or the time. I’m grateful that I went through a crucible there in my late 50s. I figured some of this crap out finally, and it didn’t haunt me into my 70s and 80s.”

November 5, 2020: Michael J. Fox says he and Tracy Pollan share a laugh every day

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During his November 2020 cover story interview, Fox shared with PEOPLE one secret to his and Pollan’s long and happy marriage.

“Every day we have something we laugh about for a good two minutes,” he said. “The kind of support she gives me, I feel like a husband, a father and a friend first, and then somewhere way down the line, I’m someone with Parkinson’s.”

October 24, 2021: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan discuss being empty nesters

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At a Michael J. Fox Foundation event, which celebrated 20 years of the foundation, the couple discussed their new life as empty nesters since their youngest daughter Esmé had just left for college.

“We get more food,” Fox joked to PEOPLE. “They’re not taking it all.” Fox and Pollan previously told PEOPLE that they planned to do some traveling and had sold their home.

“We did an interesting thing,” Fox said. “We sold our house and we went to Santa Barbara for a couple of months. We’re going to go to Malibu later this year and hang out. We don’t have anybody to pick up at school!”

July 16, 2022: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan celebrate their 34th wedding anniversary

To mark 34 years of marriage, Pollan posted a sweet tribute to her husband on Instagram.

“7❣️16❣️88Favorite place, favorite person, favorite day❣️,” she captioned a photo of her and Fox at Dogfish Bar Beach in Massachusetts.

October 27, 2022: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan say they “assume the best” of each other

The enduring couple have faced many challenges throughout their marriage. In October 2022, Fox and Pollan discussed what has been the key to making their relationship work, even during the hard times.

“We assume the best,” Pollan told PEOPLE, adding that if Fox is ever short with her, “my first assumption is not that he’s not being unkind to me. It’s that something else was going on.”

Fox also emphasized the importance of “acceptance,” and Pollan shared that her husband is “one of the most kind people” she has ever met. “[He] almost always looks at the situation and at the people involved and thinks about others before he thinks about himself,” she said.

March 14, 2023: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan open up about their 34-year marriage

Fox and Pollan spoke to PEOPLE about their long-standing relationship at the SXSW premiere of Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.

“I think we really listen to each other, we are there for each other when we need each other,” Pollan said. “And then we also give each other space when that’s needed. Just feeling off of what’s needed at the moment and trying to be there.”

Fox added: “Tracy gives our family everything that we need. Any good in our family, anything good that we do, comes from her.”

June 22, 2023: Michael J. Fox celebrates Tracy Pollan’s 63rd birthday

Michael J Fox/Instagram

Fox gave Pollan a sweet shout-out on Instagram in honor of her birthday.

“My forever Summer girl, my love, my best friend, and the most beautiful amazing mom to our four stupendous kids,” he captioned several images of his wife. “Love love love you.”

July 16, 2023: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan celebrate their 35th anniversary

Fox and Pollan marked their 35th anniversary by posting sweet tributes to each other on Instagram.

Pollan shared a throwback photo of the couple vacationing together along with a sweet caption. “35 years!!! Happy anniversary my love,” she wrote. “Here’s to many more glorious adventures together. I could not love you more💗.”

Meanwhile, Fox shared other adorable throwback photos of the couple, including a cute one of Pollan giving him a kiss on the cheek. “35 years of [laughter], living, listening and loving you @tracy.pollan,” he captioned the post. “Thank you for it all. Forever yours, Mike.”

January 11, 2024: Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan step out at the National Board of Review Gala

Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images

Fox and Pollan appeared at the National Board of Review Gala in Manhattan, where his film Still: A Michael J. Fox Story won the best documentary award. Ahead of the ceremony, the couple stopped to pose for photos where Fox looked handsome in a navy suit and light-colored shirt and Pollan stunned in a black column gown.

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Source: HIS Education