Terry Crews and Rebecca Crews Open Up About Her Battle With Parkinsons
The couple, who wed in 1989, share how a soundwave procedure has helped change Rebecca’s experience with the disease.
US actor Terry Crews and his wife Rebecca arrive for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 4, 2024.
Photo by Robyn BECK / AFP via Getty Images.
America’s Got Talent host, Terry Crews, and his wife, Rebecca Crews, are sharing what life has been like since Rebecca was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease over a decade and a half ago. In an interview with PEOPLE, Rebecca explained how a soundwave procedure was used to treat her neurodegenerative disorder.
“I hadn’t slept in three days [due to the disease],” says Rebecca. "And I felt like I wanted to die.” But Terry was excited to share the news about the procedure with his wife. “I’d been reading about this and researching it for ten years,” recalls Terry. “I told her, ‘Honey, I really think this will help you.’”
Rebecca has used the cutting-edge procedure to drastically reduce the uncontrollable tremors associated with Parkinson’s, which she has had for 16 years. “It hurts,” says Terry. “It’s definitely been hard to watch her on those days when I see her so worn out by this. We’re going through this together.”
Rebecca first noticed something was wrong back in 2011, noting numbness and stiffness whenever she rode her bike. It occurred as she and Terry were going through a rough patch in their marriage.
“I thought it was just the stress because of everything we were going through,” she says. “And then one morning I woke up with a tremor and I thought, ‘Hmmm, I know what that means.’” Her grandmother and uncle were diagnosed with Parkinson’s when she was young. “I would ask her, ‘What’s going on,’” Terry remembers. “And she’d say, ‘Nothing.’ It was clear she was trying to tough it out.”
The prescription drugs she took came with unpleasant side effects.
Rebecca was also diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy in 2020. She’s now cancer-free and refuses to let Parkinson’s obstruct her life.
“I’m doing 90% of what I want to do,” she says. She credits her husband with keeping her grounded. “Terry is my rock,” she says. "And I thank God that he has the means to take care of me, allowing me to go to doctors and get the procedures I need.”
Nearly a million Americans have Parkinson’s, a progressive brain disorder that can cause tremors, stiffness, balance issues, depression and sleep disruption. Less than a hundred patients have used this new therapy to help with shaking limbs, unsteadiness and stiffness.
“It’s very cutting edge,” says Dr. Vivek Buch, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Stanford University. “And I think she did it for others as much as she did it for herself. Not for publicity, but to be part of moving the field forward so others can also benefit from this new therapy.”
