Alan Alda has said he refuses to let Parkinson's disease define him, 11 years after receiving his diagnosis. The 90-year-old M*A*S*H star opened up about living with the condition during an appearance on CBS's Sunday Morning.
Speaking to Dr Jon LaPook, Alda said: "It's really important for me to face reality. It sounds like a self-help model, but I really think reality is my friend. I don't want to wish it away. I can't wish it away. I can't hope for a better future. I gotta accept what is."
Unusual early symptoms
Alda recalled some of his earliest symptoms, which are not typically associated with the neurological condition. "I had no twitch, no tremor, no problems with my voice," the actor noted.
He explained that he began acting out his dreams, a lesser-known symptom, before receiving a diagnosis. "I had a dream that somebody was attacking me. And I picked up a sack of potatoes and threw it at 'em. What I was really doing was throwing a pillow at Arlene, my wife."
Demystifying Parkinson's
Alda, who announced he had Parkinson's on CBS in 2018, remarked that he "didn't see a problem" with sharing the news. "I also wanted to demystify it," he reflected.
"There were people that I told I had it, and they were like 'Oh my god, I'm so sorry,' which is appropriate because in the later stages it's really debilitating. But, before you get to that, you can hold it off for some amount of time. Everybody has a different case, and every day is different for everybody."
How he copes
Asked how he manages his symptoms, Alda credited exercise, vocalising and sleep with helping him, though he said humour is the "best way" to deal with the condition. "I don't let Parkinson's define me," he declared. "It's not who I am, it's just a hobby."
"The best way to deal with anything that's a little bit of a problem is to find out what's funny about it and laugh at it."
Admitting that he does get frustrated by Parkinson's now and then, Alda praised his wife of almost 70 years, Arlene Alda, for her support. "I find what makes me laugh about it [Parkinson's], and then I go tell Arlene," he admitted.
Alda, who shares three daughters, Eve, Elizabeth, and Beatrice, with Arlene, told fans at the 92NY event in May that he and his wife have always been comfortable talking about death. "One time, we picked Carl Reiner up to take him someplace to dinner, and as we were driving, Carl's wife had just died, and we told him how Arlene and I talk all the time about what we'd do [about] who died first," he explained.
"If I died first, what would her life be like? If she died first, what would I do? And just around then, I drove over to the divider of Sunset Boulevard - a little bit of sidewalk. Just bounced away. And Carl said, 'You know the way you drive, you don't have to worry.'"
