Michael J. Fox has long struggled with difficulties caused by his Parkinson’s condition, but he remains as tenacious as ever in the face of great difficulty.

The now-retired actor has become the face of the struggle against the crippling disease, devoting to advancing research and understanding since being diagnosed in the early 1990s.

Recently, the Back to the Future star has spoken openly about his difficulties with the condition, acknowledging that his health is deteriorating and declaring that he does not expect to live to be 80 years old.

Historically, the 61 has often projected optimism about his Parkinson’s diagnosis and has never been one to mask the toll it has taken on his health and wellbeing.

Fox mentioned his mortality in a recent interview, adding that life with Parkinson’s was “gettin’ tougher”.

“I won’t lie. It’s getting harder. “It’s getting tougher,” Fox told CBS Sunday Morning host Jane Pauley.

“Every day is tougher. But, but, that’s the way things are. I mean, who should I see about that?”

He added that he recently had spinal surgery after a tumor was found on his spine. While it was benign, it affected his ability to walk, and was injured from falling: “[I] broke this arm, and I broke this arm, I broke this elbow. I broke my face. I broke my hand,” Fox told Pauley.

“You don’t die from Parkinson’s. You die with Parkinson’s,” Fox concluded. “I’ve been thinking about the mortality of it. … I’m not gonna be 80. I’m not gonna be 80.”

Fox’s fight with the brain disorder – which he was diagnosed with in 1991 after noticing a tremor he had developed in his pinkie finger – has once again come to the fore in the build-up to the release of his new documentary Still, which covers the actor’s life over the course of the past three decades.