Michael Douglas admits 40-year affair cover-up was 'a lie' as memoir 'One Helluva Ride' hits shelves today

From the Newshound archive · first published 5 October 2026 · last updated 6 October 2026.

Michael Douglas has confessed that he and Kathleen Turner spent four decades lying about their affair during the 1984 filming of 'Romancing the Stone', while he was married to his first wife Diandra Luker. The 82-year-old actor, promoting memoir 'One Helluva Ride', told Diane Sawyer he asked Turner's permission before going public, saying the women he writes about had relationships with him "long before Catherine was born." Douglas also addressed his brief 2013 separation from Catherine Zeta-Jones, 57, calling the reconciliation "a mutual" effort and insisting the pair are now "in good shape."

Douglas said that casting Jack Nicholson over his own father Kirk in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' remains "the hardest thing I ever had to do."

Zeta-Jones has not read the memoir, Douglas revealed when asked whether she was nervous about its release.

The couple separated briefly in 2013 amid health crises for both — Douglas battling cancer, Zeta-Jones seeking treatment for bipolar II disorder.