Michael J. Fox on Staying Positive After the Recent Loss of His Mother: ‘She’d Never Add Up the Losses’

The star opens up about losing his 92-year-old mom Phyllis in September.

Over his three decades battling Parkinson’s disease, Michael J. Fox has notoriously harnessed the power of positivity. It’s an instinct that he can trace back to his mother Phyllis, who died in September at the age of 92.

“My mother lived a long, wonderful life. There was not a more revered woman,” Fox, 61, shares in this week’s PEOPLE cover story for the Kindness issue. “She was a sweet person. You knew you’d get a fair hearing. And she loved to laugh—she laughed like crazy.”