Michael Douglas is pulling back the curtain on the most explosive moments of his life, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
In his memoir, “One Helluva Ride,” the actor-producer also opens up about secret affairs; heavy cocaine and alcohol use; a “rehab or divorce” ultimatum from his first wife, Diandra; and the painful family struggles that followed him from childhood into fatherhood.
Douglas details his volatile relationship with his late father, Kirk Douglas, his son Cameron’s addiction and imprisonment and the Stage 4 cancer diagnosis that forced him to confront his own mortality.
Here are the top ten bombshells:
MICHAEL DOUGLAS CONFIRMS SECRET AFFAIR WITH KATHLEEN TURNER ON ‘ROMANCING THE STONE’ SET
In the book, Douglas recalled he and filmmakers were trying to convince Debra Winger to star as Joan Wilder in “Romancing the Stone,” but the meeting took an odd turn.
“We took Debra to dinner and, once again, it was an epic meal. Any time you have dinner with Jack or Danny, it’s a riot. … But the real goal of the dinner was to get Debra on board to make Romancing the Stone, and no matter how hard we tried, she would not give us an answer, one way or the other. We were stuck in limbo.
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“Stories had filtered back that Debra was delivering an incredible performance in Terms of Endearment, but also that she was difficult during shooting and had huge, blow-out fights with Shirley MacLaine.
“We all left the restaurant and were walking down the street when, the way somebody might punch you in the arm as you part company, Debra leaned over and bit me. I mean, she really bit me. Jesus, I had a whole set of teeth marks dug into my arm. We still had no answer from her, but that bite sealed the deal for me. No, thank you!”
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Douglas said he later reenacted the moment for Fox executives, telling them, “She bit me. Hard. Look at the teeth marks in my arm.”
Although the studio pushed back because Winger was a major star, Douglas held his ground. Winger ultimately did not join the project, and Kathleen Turner was cast in the role.
Fox News Digital has reached out to reps for Winger for comment.
Douglas experienced another tense moment involving Julia Roberts at a Golden Globes party.
Douglas was at the event with his son Cameron, who was about 13 at the time. In the book, Douglas alleges that Roberts had her arm around Cameron and was “kind of nuzzling him.” Douglas, who admits he was drunk, claims Cameron looked stunned.
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“I told her, ‘Take your hands off my son and take that Golden Globe and stick it where the sun don’t shine,’” he wrote.
Douglas later apologized to Roberts and her boyfriend at the time, Kiefer Sutherland.
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“I sent Julia roses with an apology for my behavior, and then, back in the production office, I apologized to her and Kiefer in person,” he wrote.
Fox News Digital has reached out to reps for Roberts for comment.
While filming “Adam at 6 A.M.” early in his career, Douglas says he and his married co-star Lee Purcell became lovers.
“As filming progressed, my relationship with Lee changed and we became lovers,” he wrote. “Our intimate relationship was complicated by the fact that she was married, and we had to keep it a secret from the cast, crew, the people in the town we were filming in, and of course her husband. It was a passionate affair that lasted through filming.”
Purcell told Fox News Digital, “This story came as a complete surprise to me. I have fond memories of Michael and our time together. However, our recall appears to differ. First, I remember the process of searching for his character of Adam after having already been hired by Steve McQueen for the role of Jerri Jo. Secondly, we had a strictly professional relationship during filming. The personal one came much later.”
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Years later, while making “Romancing the Stone,” Douglas also admits he had an affair with screenwriter Diane Thomas, who wrote the film. He says he and his first wife, Diandra, were both involved in extramarital relationships as their marriage deteriorated.
In the midst of his substance abuse and infidelity, Douglas said his first marriage to Diandra Luker eventually came to a head at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
After Diandra initially declined to stay with him at the hotel, Douglas called a woman he had been seeing. The woman came to his room, where they had drinks.
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Douglas says Diandra unexpectedly returned, obtained a key from the front desk and walked in on them.
“She gave me an ultimatum: ‘Rehab or divorce,’” he writes.
“The indiscretion, the drugs, the booze. I was in a constant state of temporary pleasure or temporary escape,” he writes. “In my heart, I knew that I was heading down a very bad road at a very high speed, but I was trying my best to compartmentalize.”
Douglas entered the Sierra Tucson rehabilitation clinic in Arizona in 1992 for treatment for alcohol and substance abuse.
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Douglas says his rehab stay was later exploited by a tabloid.
He claims two fellow patients sold information about the program to a publication and then left treatment. According to Douglas, the story transformed his treatment for alcohol and drug abuse into a sensational headline portraying him as a sex addict.
“The story that was printed was utter bulls—,” Douglas writes. “I had made mistakes, had moments I wasn’t proud of, made choices I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t high, but I was never a f—ing sex addict.”
Douglas says the story damaged his reputation and continued to follow him in interviews for decades.
Douglas also writes about an encounter with O.J. Simpson and Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner.
Douglas says he and Wenner encountered Simpson at a “Saturday Night Live” after-party. Wenner invited Simpson back to his apartment, where Simpson allegedly pulled out a rolled dollar bill and offered them cocaine.
“Jann and I were looking at each other — Are we really doing this with O.J. Simpson?” Douglas writes.
He also claims cocaine was readily available throughout Hollywood. Douglas says that at one major talent agency, a valet could allegedly replace a $100 bill left in a car with a packet of cocaine.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Wenner for comment.
Douglas writes that he spent a private evening with Princess Diana at a London screening of “Wall Street.”
He says they sat beside each other during the film, with their hands occasionally touching on the shared armrest. Afterward, they spent time together at a private dinner away from the cameras.
“The truth was simple: she was in an unhappy marriage and wanted a different life,” he writes.
He does not claim they had a romantic relationship, but describes their time together as “very special.”
Douglas describes his father, Hollywood icon Kirk Douglas, as a powerful, but volatile presence.
“Kirk Douglas was my father, a flawed man with a ferocious temper and a burning ambition,” he writes.
Douglas says his father’s behavior left him and his brother Joel frightened. He recalls Kirk saying, “I yell and scream because I care,” while Douglas writes that Joel endured more of the abuse.
Douglas says doctors initially treated his persistent throat pain as an infection and prescribed multiple rounds of antibiotics.
A Canadian specialist eventually discovered a subtle swelling at the back of his tongue. A biopsy revealed squamous cell carcinoma.
“It’s stage IV cancer,” the doctor told him, according to Douglas, who says the tumor was the size of a walnut.
Douglas writes that three doctors had missed the cancer and that he had been given the wrong diagnosis for nine months. He feared surgery would require removing part of his tongue and jaw, potentially ending his acting career.
His doctors publicly referred to the disease as throat cancer rather than tongue cancer because they feared reports about possible disfigurement would become sensationalized.
Douglas also describes the darkest years of his son Cameron’s addiction.
“When he was really strung out in New York, I decided I was going to kidnap him and force him into rehab,” he wrote.
Douglas said that Cameron was addicted to cocaine and heroin, dealt methamphetamine and carried a Glock for protection. During one incident, Cameron flashed the weapon at a drugstore and was nearly shot by police.
At one point, Douglas says he arranged for two large men to help abduct Cameron and force him into rehab.
“When we came back, I asked to hold the leash. Cam figured it out. He looked at me, like, ‘Dad, how could you?’ Like I had broken his heart. Again.”
Cameron realized what was happening and resisted, so Douglas threw the plan out of the window.
Cameron later served seven years in prison after a federal drug case. Douglas wrote that his son’s heroin relapse behind bars led a judge to add 4½ to his sentence, and Cameron also spent two years in solitary confinement.
The experience, Douglas wrote, forced him to confront his own failures as a father and the destructive cycles that had shaped the Douglas family.
