Michael Douglas, star at Cannes: Did you know the trauma behind his success?

Michael Douglas was awarded a lifetime achievement Honorary Palme d'or at the Festival's Opening Ceremony. He was an 80’s and 90’s icon, with such hits as ‘Romancing the Stone’, ‘Wall Street’, ‘Fatal Attraction’ and ‘Basic Instinct’. At 78 he is still going strong, appearing in the Marvel Blockbusters ‘Antman’ series. Professionally, the actor boasts huge successes but, behind the camera, Douglas’ life has taken many rollercoaster turns.

His father Kirk Douglas was a famous actor in Hollywood and starred as the lead role in ‘Spartacus’. Hollywood was in the blood and Michael Douglas was about to walk into the spotlight in 1972.

The series, ‘The Streets of San Francisco’ saw Michael Douglas make a name for himself. The show was about two homicide detectives who fought crime in San Francisco and Douglas received numerous nominations for various awards for his performance.

In 1975, Douglas produced the film version of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', after obtaining the rights to the film from his father. The production received critical and popular acclaim, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture, As well as Best Actor for Jack Nicholson.

Shortly after that, he met his first wife. This was the first chapter of the book of his tumultuous personal life. The relationship was to cause a lot of upset to the Douglas family - details of which we will go on to shortly - but this didn’t stop the actor continuing to make the most of his movie career.

Douglas's acting career rocketed when he produced and starred in the 1984 romantic adventure comedy 'Romancing the Stone', giving director Robert Zemeckis his first box-office success.

Then, in 1987 Douglas starred in the thriller 'Fatal Attraction' with Glenn Close about a man who has an affair with deadly consequences. This film probably saved more marriages than Dear Deidre. It also coined the phrase Bunny boiler.

After winning an academy award for his portrayal of Gordon Gekko in the Oliver Stone film ‘Wall Street’, he had another hit in the early 90s. Who doesn’t remember the highly sexual and controversial thriller ‘Basic Instinct’, when he stared alongside Sharon Stone.

In 2000 Douglas officially divorced his first wife and married Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Jones. They share two children, a Sept. 25 birthday and over two decades of marriage.

The actor went from strength to strength, playing pianist Liberace opposite Matt Damon in ‘Behind the Candelabra’ and moving on to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the ‘Ant-Man’ films. Douglas proved to be a real multi-faceted actor who, professionally, had it all.

Douglas’ profile of charitable works is extraordinary, having worked with charities, set up foundations and even become a UN Messenger of Peace. But these respectable successes are the just surface of Michael Douglas’ story. Here are some personal facts about the actor and his rollercoaster personal life, you perhaps didn’t know went on behind the smiles and cameras.

Michael Douglas met his first wife in 1977 when she was just 19 years old. They got married after just three months of courtship.

Shortly after they were married, Diandra gave birth to Cameron, the couple’s only child together (pictured here centre). Things seemed to move very fast for the pair.

Their relationship seemed to be very volatile and it was only years later, when Luker was interviewed by Harpers Bazar, that it was clear things hadn’t been good for a while. ”For years, I've never said a word to anyone… I don't feel that two wrongs make a right. I'm not into mudslinging, and I refuse to lower myself to even tell you the tip of the iceberg."

To be confirmed later in Cameron Douglas’ memoir, the young man claimed his childhood was damaged by his father’s behaviour. Cameron was seven when his mother told him Michael was cheating on her which caused him to binge eat and cry himself to sleep, as reported by the Daily Mail.

Michael Douglas went to rehab for ‘drinking and drugging’ (as described by People) in 1991. The result was successful, however, and the actor bettered his ways and became sober.

The same couldn’t be said for Michael Douglas’ younger brother Eric. He struggled with a 20 year addiction to cocaine and prescription drugs. Then, in 2000, he slipped into an eight-day coma after accidentally overdosing on Xanax and choking on a piece of sausage, as the Mirror reported, stating he never managed to fully talk and walk before dying from an accidental overdose aged 46 in 2004.

Diandra and Michael finally separated in 1995, after hanging on to the marriage for too long, as Douglas confessed to Metro: “I know I’m going to get into trouble here. I have nothing against her, and in fact, I’m very fond of my first wife. But we should have ended that marriage eight or ten years earlier.”

The divorce was finalised in 2000, receiving a lot of media coverage for being one of the most expensive at the time in celebrity history. According to Forbes, the divorce cost Michael Douglas around $45 million.

Catherine Zeta Jones came along and the pair denied they were an item. Yet the paps got photos of the pair in Michael’s Majorca hideaway snuggling rather close, confirming a relationship was underway between the two.

The initial meeting between the pair, however, hadn’t been too much of a success. Hello! reports that Zeta-Jones told Douglas: ”I've heard a lot about you, and I've seen a lot about you, and I think it's time that I say goodnight.” Of course, they are now over two decades married.

Zeta-Jones had to undergo treatment after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In 2011, the actress issued a statement, reported by The Guardian, that she “had spent five days in a psychiatric hospital in Connecticut being treated for bipolar disorder”.

Then, in 2013, the press reported that they had separated briefly. A source told the People that they were ’taking a break’.

Michael Douglas’ son with his ex wife, Cameron, was found guilty of possession of a class A drug and plans to deal large quantities of substances. Painfully, Douglas wrote to the judge regarding his son’s actions, saying "I love my son but I'm not blind to his actions. He is an adult and responsible for his own actions. We do know, however, that genes, family and peer pressure are a strong influence on a substance abuser.” Cameron served seven years in prison.

Hello Magazine reported distress from their daughter, Carys who, from a young age, struggled with her parents’ fame and received insensitive comments directed towards her father’s age. Now, she has decided ‘who she is’ and following in her parents’ footsteps to work in Hollywood.

The Mirror reported that Michael Douglas blamed himself for his children’s troubles - especially Cameron’s. He admitted: "My career was first. My career came before my family. I should've focused more on my family.”

Then Michael was diagnosed with throat cancer. After discovering a tumour on his throat, he was to undergo eight weeks of radiation and chemotherapy.

In an interview with The Guardian, Michael Douglas was asked if the cancer was caused by years of tobacco smoking. His response? It was oral love making that caused it. This shock statement embarrassed his wife and Douglas made a public apology.

On February 6th 2020, Michael Douglas announced the death of his father on social media. “It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103”, the actor wrote while honouring the late actor as a wonderful dad.

It is not surprising to have lived through highs and lows (and all the in-between) when you are a 78 year old actor who has spent his life in the spotlight. It seems he and his family may have finally found peace and a balance between their professional and personal lives.