Michael Douglas hit back at a decades-old rumor that he went to rehab for an alleged *** addiction during a strained interview published Sunday by the U.K.’s Sunday Times.
Douglas, 82, was discussing his new memoir, “One Helluva Ride,” with British journalist Decca Aitkenhead. She reminded him that he wrote about having to break things off with five women before becoming monogamous with actor Catherine Zeta-Jones, whom he married in 2000 shortly after the end of his first marriage, to Diandra Luker.
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“No, no, it’s not what it was,” the actor told Aitkenhead of how he became monogamous with his now-wife. “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.”
In her article, Aitkenhead writes that Douglas then gives her an expression that “suggests that he thinks he’s just corrected me.”
Actors Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas got married on Nov. 18, 2000, the same year he finalized his divorce from his first wife, Diandra Luker. David Cannon via Getty Images
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Addressing the rumor that he had a *** addiction, Douglas tells Aitkenhead, “A British tabloid editor came up with this story, which, thank you very much, here we are talking about at 82. It happens with the tabloids and, well, I won’t blame your country alone, but you’re probably better known for it than most. It wasn’t true.”
British tabloids first claimed in 1992 that the star went to rehab for *** addiction after he had checked into the Sierra Tucson clinic in Arizona for alcoholism that same year. Douglas wrote in his book, “I was never a ******* *** addict.”
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In his interview with Aitkenhead, Douglas denies having *** “with so many women,” despite writing about his many trysts in his memoir.
“I don’t know if I slept with so many women … 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 ***?” he asks his interviewer.
Later on, Douglas rejects the idea that he had to win Zeta-Jones back after the pair briefly separated in August 2013 before reconciling by April 2014.
“What, I won her back? It was a mutual … You know, we had our problems but I love her dearly,” he says, according to Aitkenhead. “I mean, I don’t know about your marital status, but marriage is a lot of work, you know. And so, you know, we’re good. We’re in good shape. It’s all I can say.”
As for whether Zeta-Jones has read her husband’s memoir, which will be released Tuesday, Douglas said, “She hasn’t read it.”
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