Fox’s Media Strategy Worked: Tabloids Stayed Off His Story

WASHINGTON —  Michael J. Fox devised a careful media strategy to tell the world he had Parkinson’s disease--and keep the story out of the supermarket tabloids.

First there would be a sympathetic cover story in People; days later, he would sit down with ABC’s Barbara Walters. The choreographed approach ensured that he could frame the story line--upbeat actor prevailing over debilitating disease--on his own terms.

Nine months ago, the National Enquirer was ready to break the story but held off at Fox’s request. The television star maintained his silence until after his sitcom, “Spin City,” closed a syndication deal, worth as much as $100 million, for reruns beginning in 2000.

It’s impossible not to sympathize with Fox, 37, or to admire the forthright way he has talked about coping with the disease, which was diagnosed seven years ago. But the episode is also a case study in the delicate dance of Hollywood, where the talent--especially those with secrets to divulge--and scoop-hungry journalists get together to do deals.

Walters, who interviewed the actor in 1985, says she was approached by Fox’s representatives. “I’d like to tell you I sent a letter, I sent flowers, I stood outside his house,” she says. “But in effect it fell into my lap.” (The interview, which aired Friday, was seen by about 16.5 million people, Nielsen Media Research said Tuesday.)

Why did Walters, who also snagged the upcoming interview with Monica Lewinsky, get the nod? “Because I don’t sensationalize it,” she says. “Because it’s like a conversation rather than an interrogation.” (It’s worth noting that “Spin City,” like Walters’ “20/20,” is on ABC.)

People editor Carol Wallace says celebrities know her 3.2-million circulation magazine will treat them “as evenhandedly as possible’ and that its stories are picked up around the world. Talking to People “will stop them from having to tell the story 150 times,” she says.

One of People’s signatures is the tell-all interview with an ailing or struggling celebrity: Ann Jillian on her breast cancer, Scott Hamilton on his testicular cancer, Kirk Douglas on his stroke, Annette Funicello on her multiple sclerosis, Drew Barrymore on her childhood battles with alcohol and drugs, Cybill Shepherd on menopause, and Calista Flockhart of “Ally McBeal” denying that she has anorexia.

Los Angeles bureau chief Jack Kelley says he’d heard the rumors about Fox’s condition. But, he says, “it’s not the kind of story we would do without cooperation. We don’t go digging into people’s medical records or bribe hospital workers.”

Hollywood ties play a part in such deals. Kelley says he handled the initial discussions with Fox’s security chief, with whom he has a long-standing relationship, and that reporter Todd Gold has a previous relationship with Fox.

Fox told Walters he went public because he was worried that someone would “beat me to the punch,” adding that “I have to say thank you” to the tabloids for not spilling his secret.

“We did Mike a favor, because he asked us for family reasons not to publish,” says National Enquirer editor Steve Coz. While wishing Fox the best, he says: “We thought, obviously mistakenly, that when he was going to go public he would call us. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”