LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Woody Harrelson, best known for his work on the NBC sitcom 'Cheers,' recalled a shocking event he had with Michael J Fox when he visited the 62-year-old in Thailand in 1989. Presenting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to the 'Back to the Future' star at the 2022 Governors Awards in Los Angeles, Harrelson recounted that he and Fox were out one night when they encountered a child staging a fight "between a cobra and a mongoose."
“He taunted a bunch of these cobras and then he found the orneriest cobra, grabbed it by the neck, threw it in a cage with mongoose, where I saw the craziest fight I’ve ever seen between any animals other than studio executives,” the 61-year-old Primetime Emmy Award joked at the time.
Cobra blood and some Thai whiskey
The 'Zombieland' actor continued, "And the mongoose won, they took the snake, yep, tied it by its tail, run the blood out, half-filled four glasses with cobra blood and half with Thai whiskey" adding that “drinking the cobra blood is called ‘becoming brother to the snake.’”
Michael J Fox threw up snake blood cocktail
Even though Harrelson said that Fox usually “hold his own” when it comes to drinking, he disclosed that Fox instantly vomited "his snake cocktail.” After recalling the harrowing incident, Harrelson praised Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1991, for turning “a chilling diagnosis into a courageous mission.”
Fox created a foundation in his name in 2000 which raised over $1 billion to find the treatment for Parkinson’s disease. “He never asked for the role of Parkinson’s advocate, but it is his best performance,” Harrelson said. “Michael J Fox sets the ultimate example of how to fight and how to live.”
'We did some damage in the '80s'
Fox thanked Harrelson for being a constant support and friend after he made his way up to the podium amid a lengthy standing ovation. “I love you. We did some damage,” Fox said to Harrelson. “We did some damage in the ’80s.” Fix has always been positive with his life even after battling the disease for over 30 years. “I refer to Parkinson’s as the gift that keeps on taking. But it truly has been a gift,” he said during his speech.
He said the same thing in 2021 in a profile for AARP magazine, where he claimed that he is happy despite the difficult conditions in his life. “I’m really blunt with people about cures. When they ask me if I will be relieved of Parkinson’s in my lifetime, I say, ‘I’m 60 years old, and science is hard. So, no,’” Fox said. “I am genuinely a happy guy. I don’t have a morbid thought in my head — I don’t fear death. At all.”
