Terry Crews’ wife, Rebecca King Crews, has been battling Parkinson’s disease for 16 years.
During an appearance on Monday’s episode of the “Today Show,” King Crews — who was diagnosed in 2015 – got candid about living with the disease and detailed how a newly-approved procedure has helped manage her symptoms.
“I feel good,” she said. “I’m able to write my name and my dates, and I’m able to write with my right hand for the first time in probably three years. I’m seeing improvement in my symptoms.”
PARKINSON’S RISK INCREASES WITH EXPOSURE TO COMMON CHEMICAL, STUDY SUGGESTS
King Crews first began noticing symptoms in 2012.
“Just some slight numbness in my left foot and then my trainer noticed that my arm did not swing when I’d walk and I was like, ‘Okay.’ Then I woke up one morning and my hand was shaking,” King Crews recalled. “I said, ‘Now that’s a tremor,’ because my grandmother had tremors. So I went to the doctor, and he told me, ‘Oh, you’re having anxiety, you’ll be fine.'”
The mom-of-five was able to get multiple referrals for additional doctors and eventually got her diagnosis within three years.
“Well, I knew she was a superhero,” Crews said of first hearing about his wife’s diagnosis. “And she had already went through cancer and defeated it. She was 100% cancer-free. And I said, this is why you get married. My thing is, when they say sickness and health, this is the battle that we were designed to fight together. And that’s the whole way I see it. I’m like, where she’s weak, I’m strong. Where I’m weak, she’s strong. And we built each other up like that. For almost 37 years and all the way to forever. That’s how we doing it.“
In July 2025, King Crews had hit her breaking point.
MICHAEL J. FOX’S FAMILY REMAINS HIS SUPERPOWER IN ONGOING PARKINSON’S DISEASE BATTLE
“I hadn’t slept in three days [due to the disease],” King Crews told People. “And I felt like I wanted to die.”
At the time, her husband of 36 years had just read about a groundbreaking new treatment — using sound waves — that had just been approved by the FDA to treat her Parkinson’s.
The non-invasive treatment, known as focused ultrasound, has been successful in improving King Crews’ symptoms.
“It hurts,” Crews said. “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.”
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
According to People, King Crews is one of nearly a million Americans living with Parkinson’s and one of less than a hundred patients who have used this new treatment.
King Crews chose not to disclose her diagnosis for years to avoid pity. But, now, with this new therapy treatment, she’s feeling more hopeful than ever.
“I don’t believe in telling my story just so you can know my story and feel sorry for me,” she said during her appearance on “Today.” “I really believe that this procedure and others like it are the new frontier of medicine. They were able to go into my brain without cutting me open. Non-invasive. Non-Invasive at all. It’s very, and this focus ultrasound is used to treat many other types of tumors, cancers, without the risk of bleeding, without risk of dying in surgery.”
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
“So I’m excited about the possibility. And then I felt that I wanted to potentially make it more available to others because it’s an expensive surgery. It’s not covered yet. And just to give hope to people with Parkinson because I believe that we’re gonna find a cure.”
“This is the thing, I see this as the beginning of a cure,” Crews added. “And because to watch her go through what she’s gone through over the last 10 to 12 years has been very, very hard. You know, the tremors, the not sleeping, the loss of balance, like she said.”
“To watch her write her name for the first time in three years. Let me tell you, man, I don’t know what to say. I’m choked up just thinking about it because. I want the best, she’s the rock of our lives, you know? And I just want her to do this.”
