Michael J. Fox has reflected on being famous in the ’80s.
The Back to the Future star has reflected on how Hollywood has changed since he first rose to fame in the early ’80s.
“There’s an expression I referred to when they gave me an honorary Academy Award – somebody said to me the day before, they were talking about getting this award and being famous and they said ‘You’re ’80s famous,” Michael told People in a new interview.
He continued, “I thought, wow, that’s cool. ’80s famous. Right, we were different.”
The 62-year-old noted that Hollywood stars were “tougher” before the rise of social media.
“We were tougher. We didn’t have social media, we didn’t have any of that crap,” he told the outlet. “We were just famous. Left to our own resources. And it was an amazing time.”
Michael first started acting at the age of 16 when he was cast in the Canadian television series Leo and Me. At age 18, in 1979, he moved to Los Angeles and went on to appear in series’ including Family Ties and Night Court.
The star explained that it “helped” to be “talented” in the entertainment business in the ’80s.
“We used to bust our a**, our acting muscles and watch other actors and sit around with other actors and talk about acting and talk about it,” he said. “And now you’ve got people who just go like, who’s your sweater? What’s your sweater you’re wearing? And what’s that dance step? And you’re the most famous person in the world.”
Michael announced that he was officially retiring from acting in 2020 due to his Parkinson’s disease.