Jason Segel shares how his idol Michael J. Fox helped him through 'HIMYM'

Jason Segel is finally getting to work alongside one of his childhood heroes: Michael J. Fox.

Speaking to People magazine at the Shrinking FYC event in Los Angeles on May 18, the How I Met Your Mother alum revealed that the Back to the Future star inspired him during some of the most hectic years of his career.

“I got the chance to tell him that he was a huge inspiration to me while I was in a weirdly similar situation doing How I Met Your Mother and movies at the same time and being tired,” Segel, 45, said.

“We always would talk about Michael J. Fox and what he was doing with Back to the Future and Family Ties at the same time,” he added.

Though Segel admitted he didn’t go into detail about favourite scenes from Back to the Future, he shared, “I didn't get so specific as much as telling him that he was an idol of mine. He's an idol for sure.”

Now, the two are co-starring in season 3 of Shrinking, which marks Fox’s first on-camera role since stepping away from acting in 2020 due to Parkinson’s.

The show itself has deep ties to Fox. Co-creator Bill Lawrence previously said the actor’s resilience with Parkinson’s helped inspire the series — where Harrison Ford’s character, Paul, also lives with the condition while continuing to work as a therapist.