‘Baywatch’ Alum Mike Newman Discusses 16-Year Battle With Parkinson’s
Baywatch alum Mike Newman, the actor who played lifeguard Mike “Newmie” Newman on the ‘90s syndicated series, is opening up with a long-term health saga: He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2006.
“Everything changes,” Newman, 66, tells People in a new interview. “All those things that you thought you were going to do with your children and grandchildren, pictures we were going to take, all the plans I had… stopped.”
After noticing a “shake” in his movement and finding that he was running and swimming at slower speeds, Newman sought medical attention. A doctor prescribed him the MAO-B indicator Azilect, which eased his symptoms — and thus confirmed that he had Parkinson’s.
The actor — a former lifeguard in real life as well as on screen — intended to retire to Hawaii with his wife, Sarah. He had built a house there, plus an Olympic-sized pool. But his plans changed post-diagnosis, and he and his wife have spent the last 16 years in Los Angeles instead.
Parkinson’s is a “sinister” disease, with symptoms that “march forward so slowly that you barely notice that they’re changing,” he tells People. “Parkinson’s disease doesn’t wait for you. It keeps on plowing in.”
Even so, Newman has kept up his exercise routine, explaining to the magazine that physical activity is the best treatment for Parkinson’s. So every day, he swims, kayaks, or runs. “I’ve been training for this,” he says, referring to a life spent in sport. “Somebody that was 65 and not very athletic, if they got the news that they got Parkinson’s, it wouldn’t turn out as well. I got them all beat, I guess, if we could call it ‘beat.’”
And now he’s sharing his Parkinson’s story with the world, both in his People interview and in the upcoming four-part docuseries Baywatch: The American Dream. He chose to participate in the latter with the condition that the documentarians team up with the Michael J. Fox Foundation and Cedars-Sinai for Parkinson’s research fundraising. “This may not help me,” he tells People. “But it’s going to help someone down the road.”
