Michael Douglas opens up about his love life in his memoir, One Helluva Ride, including his and Kathleen Turner’s secret love affair.
Michael Douglas insists he “was never a f****** sex addict”, describing himself instead as a “healthy product of the Sixties”.
The actor discusses his love life in his memoir, One Helluva Ride, including his and Kathleen Turner’s secret love affair after they fell for each other when they shot the 1984 adventure-comedy film, Romancing the Stone, in Mexico, while he was separated from his then-wife Diandra Douglas.
After a nine-month, largely long-distance courtship with his now-wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael told her he needed to “make five quick calls” after the Darling Buds of May actress made it clear she was not interested in dating him if he was seeing other women.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Michael, 82, rejected the suggestion that he had slept with scores of women after the reporter asked if he had “ever wondered why he slept with so many women”.
The Fatal Attraction legend said: “I don’t know if I slept with so many women, I don’t see it that way. No, not me, no. I was a healthy product of the Sixties.
“My curiosity is why, of all countries, of all the press that I do, why are the Brits so consumed with the issues of sex?”
In One Helluva Ride, Michael stressed he “was never a f****** sex addict” after reports in 1992 that he had entered rehab for sex addiction.
After the reporter noted that his memoir is “full of sex”, the Basic Instinct alum replied: “I didn’t feel like it was. I mention a couple [of women] in the book.”
Clarifying the story of telling Catherine, now 57, he needed to “make five quick calls” to finish with five women before committing to her, Michael added: “No, no, it’s not what it was.
“What Catherine said is, if we’re going to continue this, then I want it to be monogamous. And so I therefore, that evening, you know, made some calls to some people I was seeing, and that was that.”
Asked if his wife of 26 years feels nervous about the release of One Helluva Ride, the Wall Street entertainer admitted that she “hasn’t read it”, and said their marriage is “in good shape”.
In an extract from Michael’s memoir shared by PEOPLE magazine, the two-time Oscar winner admitted that he and Kathleen lied about the truth of their love affair for the last 40 years.
He wrote: “The chemistry I had with Kathleen Turner was so strong, audiences have been certain for years that we were in a relationship together while making the film.
“We both denied it through Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile, War of the Roses, and even while doing press a few years ago for The Kominsky Method.
“The official story went as follows: Yes, we confessed, we had amazing chemistry. Yes, we were both, as Kathleen said, ‘terrible flirts,’ and yes, we were both tempted, but nothing ever happened between us.
“That was a lie.”
The Game cast member explained that the lie was “meant to protect my wife and son”, Cameron, and they “told the world for 40 years”.
He continued: “Kathleen and I never hit a rough spot. We found each other first as friends, then as co-stars, and finally as lovers.
“Following an exhausting day of shooting in the jungle, we’d go out and have a meal, or head out with the group and afterward I would sneak into her hotel room after everybody was asleep.
“There were no cameras in elevators, no assistants using cell phones to take pictures.”
They did not tell any of their castmates or director Robert Zemeckis, 75, but the “magic spell of the set” was broken when his wife and their son Cameron came to visit the set in Mexico and she “grew suspicious”.
Michael has recalled how Diandra told Kathleen that they were “still married” as she saw their separation differently.
He added: “After that visit, Kathleen and I ended things, and I went back to Diandra. I did it for Cameron, but we shouldn’t have gotten back together. After that first split it was never the same between us ever again.”
As Michael referenced, Kathleen, who also appeared with him in the likes of The War of the Roses and The Jewel of the Nile, kept up their public story as she claimed she had “hope for” something romantic between them at one point.
She told Closer magazine: “I was yearning, but he was still married to [to his first wife Diandra Luker]… although they were separated, and so I thought there was hope for me.”
After the extract was published, Kathleen, 72, responded to the revelation.
She told People: “Good heavens, what a fuss about something 40 years ago!
“I love Michael, and I look forward to enjoying the book.”
Michael Douglas: ‘I don’t know if I slept with so many women. I was a healthy product of the Sixties’
