Michael J Fox stuns Whoopi Goldberg by revealing why he turned down starring in the movie Ghost

Michael J Fox shocked Whoopi Goldberg when he revealed that he turned down the chance to star alongside her in the movie Ghost.

The former actor-turned-activist, 61, was a guest on US panel show The View to promote his new Apple TV+ documentary Still about his battle with Parkinson’s disease.

During the chat, Fox and Goldberg, 67, discussed their long-lasting friendship, with Goldberg asking if there were any acting roles that he “regretted” turning down.

“There was a chance to work with you that I missed,” Fox replied, which clearly caught the Sister Act star by surprise.

“They talked to me about Ghost early on. I said, ‘It’ll never work.’ I said, ‘Whoopi’s great, but it’ll never work.’ And then it was great and huge, and I’m a f***ing idiot!”

Goldberg starred opposite Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in the 1990 romantic drama, which was the highest-grossing film that year and, at the time of its release, the third highest-grossing film of all time.

He didn’t clarify whether he was in the running for Swayze’s role or another part.

Canada-born Fox was an in-demand Hollywood star when he was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease at the age of 29.

He has since dedicated his life to finding a cure and helped raise over two billion dollars for the cause.

Fox remains optimistic about finding a cure, recently saying: “I feel it’s closer than it’s ever been”.

Appearing on ITV’s Lorraine, he explained: “I think we’ve found this biomarker which is huge, identifying the disease and therefore being able to treat it earlier.

“It was a gigantic breakthrough – we didn’t expect to make it this soon. We were working on it for a long time, ten years ago we talked about it.”