Michael J. Fox can't remember dating Bangles' Susanna Hoffs

Michael J. Fox ‘can’t even remember’ dating Bangles singer Susanna Hoffs

May 8, 2023 12:11 PM PT

Michael J. Fox admitted in a recent interview that he has a spotty memory of his Hollywood heartthrob days, including his short-lived relationship with Bangles singer Susanna Hoffs.

While reflecting on his career and forthcoming documentary, “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” in conversation with Britain’s the Sunday Times, the “Family Ties” and “Back to the Future” star reminisced — to the extent that he could — about the “crazy” period of his life when he was among the most in-demand actors and eligible bachelors on the planet.

“Look at all the girls I dated,” he said.

“Some of them I can’t even remember. Hahaha. I mean, I dated Susanna Hoffs from the Bangles, and I can’t even remember it. But that’s just an example.”

(The Emmy winner, 61, and the “Walk Like an Egyptian” hitmaker, 64, dated briefly in 1986 before marrying their respective spouses, according to People magazine.)

Fox added that “stuff like that happened all the time,” recalling another surreal moment when he was seated next to Princess Diana at the 1985 premiere of “Back to the Future.”

“I had to pee. And that’s all I remember,” he told the Sunday Times.

“I had just been told a whole list of things that I could and couldn’t do, like not speaking unless spoken to, and not standing unless she stands. And so I was thinking, ‘What kind of math do I have to do to go to the bathroom?’ I can’t say, ‘I’ve go to go to the loo!’ So I sat there in pain for the whole time. And that was kind of the formula for that part of my life.”

Fox also opened up about his long journey with Parkinson’s disease, which can cause memory difficulties as well as physical challenges, according to the National Institutes of Health. Apple’s upcoming documentary delves into Fox’s Parkinson’s diagnosis and how he has coped with the illness through optimism and humor.

Though he strives to live “in joy,” Fox noted that “being really honest about the pain, and what it really has taken, and what has been lost” has made his “life more rich and authentic as time has gone on.”

“It’s not so much pain from the movement, but from the not moving. It’s when you freeze, and in that freezing that not-movement becomes infused with all this energy and it becomes this burning, impending thing that never happens,” Fox told the Sunday Times.

“I don’t want to get the violins out. ... Yes, it hurts a lot. But what you learn is that nobody gives a s—. It’s just life. It doesn’t matter. You suck it up and you move on. And there might be a story to tell in it. But only that. There’s no chit that you can present to a window for a refund.”

“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” launches Friday on Apple TV+.