Fox defiant about disease

Michael J Fox with Barbara Walters: Convinced he will be cured by 50

Hollywood star Michael J Fox has given a defiant TV interview about his battle with Parkinson's Disease.

The Back To The Future star found out he had the condition in 1991, but only told a few close friends.

He only publicly revealed his fight with the disease last week - and he told US network ABC's 20/20 programme he was touched by the public's response to him.

But he told interviewer Barbara Walters he was determined to beat the disease - and he believes science is on his side.

Fox spoke out in People magazine

He said: "There are so many things on the horizon, so many medication and surgical procedures, I really feel within 10 years I'm going to flick a switch and it's gone."

"The only reason I'm more optimistic and happier and relaxed than people expect is that I won't see 50 with this. I'll see 50 but I'm not going to have this."

The 37-year-old said he felt more comfortable with himself since he made the revelations in an interview with People magazine.

But he added he felt distant from the sympathy expressed by the public, who have sent him thousands of letters and e-mails in the past week.

"I feel more at ease all the time, I feel really good about it, it's my life and my reality.

"I feel it's been an interesting few days. I was really moved people cared and expressed their emotions, but the breathlessness of it, the tragedy and the melodrama of it didn't apply to me. I felt very apart from it."

Fox said he hoped he had brought the disease out into the open by talking about it, and bring hope to his fellow sufferers.

"It's been such a part of my life for a long time, so I wanted to chart my own path and live one day at a time. So I kept it to myself.

"But I wanted to destigmatise it in a way, and say that someone you know is dealing with this - 'dealing' being the operative word."