Rebecca Crews, 60, Reveals Parkinson’s Disease Breakthrough That Helped Her Walk and Write Again
Doctors explain how a focused ultrasound works and why you can expect results fast
Key Takeaways
- Rebecca Crews, 60, found relief from Parkinson’s symptoms with focused ultrasound
- The non-invasive treatment uses sound waves to target movement-related brain pathways
- The treatment may help select Parkinson’s patients, but risks and cost should be considered
There’s no doubt that receiving a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis is life changing. You may go from wondering what you’ll have for dinner tonight to trying to figure out how to keep doing the things you love while managing symptoms like tremors. But seeing others with the same condition continue to live full lives can be a powerful reminder that there’s still so much life beyond a diagnosis. One person demonstrating that is fashion designer, entrepreneur and singer Rebecca King-Crews, 60, who has been speaking out about her Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.
Crews, the wife of America’s Got Talent host, former NFL player and actor Terry Crews, 57, has been making headlines over the past week after revealing she has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. But she has also offered hope to others by sharing the innovative treatment that helped her, which many are hearing about for the first time. In an interview with People earlier this month, Crews opened up about the symptoms that led to her diagnosis and the focused ultrasound procedure that changed her life.
“The only reason I’m going public is because I finally have some uplifting information to offer,” she revealed. We asked experts to break down everything you need to know about this groundbreaking treatment.
Woman's World Answers
Rebecca Crews’ Parkinson’s symptoms
Crews told People she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015, but early warning signs began nearly four years before. At the time, she initially attributed symptoms to stress, including numbness in her toes after riding her bike and stiffness in her left arm. Crews, who has a family history of Parkinson’s, became more concerned as symptoms progressed.
“One morning I woke up with a tremor and I thought, ‘Hmmm, I know what that means,’” Crews said.
What is Parkinson’s disease?
If you’ve never been impacted by Parkinson’s disease, you likely recognize it from the tremors people diagnosed with it experience or from other celebrities with the condition, including Michael J. Fox, 64.
“Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that occurs when certain brain cells, specifically those in a portion of the midbrain responsible for dopamine production, break down and die, resulting in reduced dopamine levels,” explains Brynna Connor, MD, healthcare ambassador at NorthWestPharmacy.com. “Since dopamine is the neurotransmitter responsible for sending signals from the brain that control muscle movement, as dopamine levels decline, movement and motor function are subsequently affected.”
That may look like movements that become slower and more rigid, adds Wael F. Asaad, MD, PhD, neurosurgeon at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University & Rhode Island Hospital.
“Patients can also experience a tremor—sometimes that’s all they experience, at least at first—and there can be other symptoms such as cramping of muscles [and] blood pressure instability,” adds Dr. Asaad. “It’s a complex disease that can manifest in a variety of ways, and each patient is unique in the particular constellation of symptoms they experience.”
How Parkinson’s disease is treated
Dr. Asaad says that Parkinson’s is typically treated with medications that replace dopamine initially.
“This can be remarkably effective in the early stages of the disease,” explains Dr. Asaad. “However, over time, the response to the dopamine medications can change such that the beneficial effect wears off very quickly or individuals may become hypersensitive to the medication, such that they swing back and forth between having small, slow movements to having exaggerated uncontrolled movements.”
Rebecca Crews used focused ultrasound for her Parkinson’s
As Crews’ symptoms worsened, she said she tried medication but experienced side effects such as nausea and insomnia. In July 2025, Terry Crews came across a post about an FDA-approved treatment for Parkinson’s called focused ultrasound and encouraged her to consider it. Last month, Rebecca underwent the procedure on the right side of her brain and is scheduled to have the left side treated this fall, per People.
Crews said she noticed the results of the procedure straight away. “I was at the hotel [near the hospital] and as I was trying to put my pants on I realized that I could lift my leg without holding onto a table or anything. And then I realized that I could write and sign my name in perfectly legible handwriting. I couldn’t do any of those things before [having the procedure],” she revealed.
What is focused ultrasound?
Dr. Asaad, who performs focused ultrasound to treat Parkinson’s disease at Brown University Health, explains that the procedure uses ultrasound wave technology within an MRI scanner to help restore balance in key brain pathways.
“It basically re-balances activity between one pathway, which is hyperactive due to the absence of dopamine regulation, and another complementary pathway that is responsible for making brisk, effective movements,” explains Dr. Asaad.
“Patients with Parkinson’s disease who are undergoing MRI-focused ultrasound should expect to be awake during the procedure and understand that the process typically takes several hours,” adds Dr. Connor. “One of the benefits of this particular procedure is that it’s non-invasive.”
It turns out a quick improvement in symptoms in certain parts of the body like what Crews experienced is to be expected. “An immediate response for motor symptoms like tremor is fairly standard,” confirms Dr. Asaad.
Still the procedure is not without risks. “The immediate surgical risks of focused ultrasound are low,” says Dr. Asaad. “Nearly zero risk of brain bleeding or infection, for example, which is not true of more invasive neurosurgical procedures (where the risks might be reasonably low, but not nearly zero, as focused ultrasound). Longer term risks include side effects such as worsened balance, coordination or speech.”
As for cost, Dr. Asaad confirms some insurance plans may cover the procedure, and without insurance you may pay anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000.
The bottom line on Parkinson’s disease
Receiving a Parkinson’s diagnosis can feel overwhelming, but Rebecca Crews’ story is a powerful reminder that innovative treatments are bringing new hope. If you or a loved one is living with Parkinson’s disease, talk to your doctor about whether focused ultrasound might be right for you. As Crews’ experience shows, there are new treatment possibilities emerging that can help.
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