Michael J. Fox turned to alcohol after Parkinson's disease diagnosis

Michael J. Fox turned to alcohol to cope with his Parkinson's disease diagnosis.

The Back to the Future star learned he was battling the nervous system disorder in 1992, when he was 29 years old, and he reveals when he first received the news he didn't believe it.

"Honestly, my first reaction was, 'You've made a mistake - you're not aware of who I am'," he tells Closer Weekly. "I just thought, 'This is preposterous that this is happening to me'. I got this diagnosis, and it freaked me out, and I ran from it."

Fox turned to alcohol to escape the diagnosis and it subsequently led to issues in his marriage to Tracy Pollan.

"I responded by drinking too much," he says. "I drank to obliterate it, to make it go away. (It) caused tension in my marriage, which had always been good and has been amazing since."

"My wife is just an amazing person," he continues. "I credit her with a lot of my ability to deal with this - and also shutting down my early attempts to deal with it in a non-productive way by drinking or getting angry."

Michael is now focused on being present in his life and is adamant to not worry too much about what will happen in the future.

"It's OK to understand where I am today, but I don't have to spend a lot of time thinking about where I'll be tomorrow," he adds. "I do the things I need to do - exercise or manage my meds (medication) correctly or get the correct amount of rest - but I don't do them so tomorrow's better. I do them so today is good."