Michael Douglas says he never gave up hope of reconciling with Catherine Zeta-Jones after their brief 2013 split, as the longtime couple marks 25 years and he promotes a new memoir.
The Oscar winner, now 82, addressed the old rupture in a fresh Sunday Times interview while pushing his book “One Helluva Ride,” set to hit shelves Tuesday.
Douglas and Zeta-Jones, 57, wed on Nov. 18, 2000, the same year his divorce from first wife Diandra Luker was finalized. Nearly 13 years later, in August 2013, news broke that they were taking a break. They got back together soon after. He is only now circling back to it in public at length.
Douglas framed the episode as mutual and hard-earned, not a Hollywood meltdown.
In the Sunday Times sit-down he said he “never gave up hope” that he would “reconcile” with his wife.
"It was a mutual... You know, we had our problems but I love her dearly and, 25 years, you know,"
He kept the point plain.
"I mean, I don’t know about your marital status, but marriage is a lot of work, you know."
And he closed the thought without drama: “And so, you know, we’re good,” adding, “We’re in good shape. It’s all I can say.”
That tracks with what he told People when the break first became public. “We’re working things out, talking, and we’ll see how she goes,” he said then. On “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in 2015 he went further, saying the marriage “can’t be a one-way street,” that he was “crazy about her,” and that every couple hits rough patches. “We’re back stronger than ever,” he told the audience.
Zeta-Jones marked 25 years last November with a warm Instagram post.
"25 years ago today, I walked down the aisle. The intoxicating aroma of flowers, the glow of the candles, the resounding harmonious Welsh choir and you at the end of the long walk waiting for me, looking at me the way only you can. I love you today as I did then. Thank you sweetheart."
The pair share two children in the business: son Dylan, 26, and daughter Carys, 23. Douglas also has son Cameron, 47, with Luker, now 70.
The new book is not only about the marriage. Douglas confirms a secret relationship with “Romancing the Stone” co-star Kathleen Turner while he was still married to Luker. He claims the two were already separated and “both having extramarital affairs.” Asked about Zeta-Jones and the memoir, he was direct: “She hasn’t read it.”
Hollywood marriages often crack under publicity, ego, and time. Douglas is not selling a fairy tale. He is saying the obvious thing adults used to know without a publicity tour: love helps, work matters, and quitting early is the easy way out. A 25-year marriage that survived a real break is worth more than the gossip cycle that tried to bury it.
