‘Baywatch’ Actor Opens up About Living With Parkinson’s Disease

Baywatch star Michael Newman has been battling Parkinson’s Disease for 16 years. The 66-year-old retired actor portrayed lifeguard Mike “Newmie” Newman on the action drama, and his life changed. In 2006, he began to walk funny in 2006, and his movement was slower than usual. After being prescribed Azilect, a pill that slows the breakdown of dopamine in the brain, his life changed once again, only this time it was bad.

“Everything changes,” Newman shared with PEOPLE. “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.” His original plans after retiring were to move to Hawaii with his wife, Sarah, and even built their dream home. Unfortunately, because of the disease, he’s had to put that plan on hold. He continues to reside in Los Angeles, with his Hawaii dreams sadly just a dream, at least for now.

Michael Newman portrayed Newmie for the first 10 seasons of Baywatch from 1989 to 2000. The senior lifeguard was the longest-serving member of the lifeguard team. Laid back, he was a ladies’ man, and he and David Hasselhoff’s Mitch Buchannon often went on double dates or even fought for the same woman. Newman appeared in 150 episodes of Baywatch. It marked his final role before retiring. Prior to that, he appeared on the series Zig and Zag’s Dirty Deeds in 1996. He also appeared in a few other Baywatch projects, like Panic at Malibu Pier, White Thunder at Glacier Bay, and Baywatch Nights. Though it’s unlikely he’d be up for a role in the .

Newman will open up more about his diagnosis in the upcoming documentary, Baywatch: The American Dream. Directed by Matt Felker, the documentary will dig deep into the series and the lives of its cast. The real-life lifeguard and firefighter performed a lot of stunts that nobody could do and gave a lot of advice to the writers, usually in exchange for more lines. He was unsure about being open about Parkinson’s in the documentary since he didn’t want to be known as “the guy with Parkinson’s.” However, after he spent more time with Felker, he changed his mind, wanting to share his story authentically with Felker and the world.

The first nine seasons of Baywatch are available to stream on Amazon Freevee. Fans will be able to watch Michael Newman as Newmie and see just why he managed to last longer than the rest of his lifeguard co-stars. He is not just the guy with Parkinson’s, but he sure is inspiring both on and off-screen.