Michael Douglas Knows How to Do a Memoir

Michael Douglas is an octogenarian, Hollywood royalty, and the son of Spartacus himself, Kirk Douglas, which means that he’s seen Hollywood memoirs come and go. It also means that he knows what the people want: hot goss. In both his upcoming memoir, One Helluva Ride (out October 6), and the press interview surrounding it, Douglas has been open about his relationship with his famous father, his romantic dalliances, and his long marriage with fellow famous person Catherine Zeta-Jones.

The most scandalous revelation is that the Oscar winner had a secret relationship with his Romancing the Stone co-star Kathleen Turner while he was still married to Diandra Luker. “The official story went as follows: Yes, we confessed, we had amazing chemistry,” he writes in the memoir, per a People excerpt. “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.” He reveals they had a full-on relationship while he was married. “Kathleen and I never hit a rough spot,” the books states. “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.” Eventually, Luker visited set and told Turner that she and Douglas were still together and that any relationship should stop. Nobody else knew about the connection until this year.

Douglas says in the book intro that he asked all the women he had affairs with if they were okay with being written about, and Turner herself has been pretty blasé about the reveal. “Good heavens what a fuss about something 40 years ago!” she said in a statement to People. “I love Michael and I look forward to enjoying the book.”

Douglas also reveals how his father, Kirk, was physically abusive to him as a child. He even told AP News that he wouldn’t have written the book if Kirk were still alive. “I was very uncomfortable talking about the early years and his physical abuse,” he said. “He was of a generation that hit; my mother used the hairbrush. He was tough. That was also one of the reasons why it took a little time to warm up as we got older, and to forgive him.”

Douglas even talks about how, in 2013, he and Zeta-Jones separated, writing in the book that “I never gave up hope that we would reconcile.” When a U.K. Times reporter asked how Douglas won her back, he bristled at the question. “What, I won her back? It was a mutual,” Douglas said. “You know, we had our problems but I love her dearly and, 25 years, you know.” Douglas then added, “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.” Oversharing but prickly? That’s exactly the best way to be an 82-year-old Hollywood legend.