Michael Douglas grew up surrounded by Hollywood glamour as the son of screen icon Kirk Douglas, but he has little patience for the label “nepo baby” — and neither do his children.
As his own offspring pursue careers in acting, the 82-year-old Wall Street and Fatal Attraction star has called the expression “snotty.” He argues that parents in almost every other profession are praised, rather than criticised, for helping their children get started.
Michael, whose father Kirk died in 2020, is often cited as one of Hollywood’s earliest examples of a nepotism beneficiary. Yet he says he “resents” the description.
Speaking to the Sunday Times about his memoir, One Helluva Ride, Douglas said: “For the number of so-called ‘nepos’, there were very few people I could think of that had the kind of career my father and I had.”
He added that the shortened term for nepotism carries “a snotty tone to it I really kind of resent”.
“In every other business, every mother and father helps their kids,” Douglas said. “We all know the companies, the names are ‘so and so and son, or daughter.’”
Michael Douglas has criticised the “snotty” term “nepo baby,” arguing that parents in other industries are not condemned for helping their children, pictured here with his actor father Kirk
He continued: “In every other business everybody else, in relation, is required to have the same success or continuity. Whereas in this one, you’re criticised for being the same.”
Douglas’s comments, aimed at the phrase commonly used for the children of famous actors and musicians, came only weeks after his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, described “nepo baby” as a “horrific” expression.
The couple’s defence of the term comes as their children, Dylan and Carys, pursue Hollywood careers of their own — with mixed results so far.
Dylan, 26, graduated from Brown University in 2022 and secured a role last year in the thriller I Will Come to You. Carys, 23, made her stage debut in July in an off-Broadway production of Chekhov’s The Seagull.
“This horrific phrase ‘nepo baby’ is horrible because these kids didn’t ask to be born into this, they’re finding their own way in life,” Zeta-Jones said.
“But they love it, and they’re good. Otherwise, Michael and I would be the first to go, ‘You know what? Maybe law school looks really good.’”
In his memoir, Douglas also rejects the notion that he was a womaniser before marrying Zeta-Jones in 2000. Instead, he described himself as a “healthy product of the Sixties.”
He recalled making “five quick calls” after Zeta-Jones told him she would not date him while he was seeing other women.
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones’s children, Dylan, 26, and Carys, 23, are pursuing acting careers with varying degrees of success
The forthcoming book also contains Douglas’s first admission that he had an affair with his Romancing The Stone co-star Kathleen Turner during production of the 1984 action comedy.
In an excerpt published by People, he wrote: “Kathleen was smart, funny, and sexy with a deep, sultry voice that became her signature. I instantly liked her, and we were immediately attracted to each other.”
Douglas said his marriage to Diandra was “in a bad place” at the time. He also revealed that he had been involved with Romancing The Stone screenwriter Diane Thomas before meeting Turner.
Douglas and Turner, who was single but dating property tycoon Jay Weiss — whom she would later marry — repeatedly denied the affair. The rumours intensified after Douglas’s then-wife Diandra became so concerned that she travelled to the Mexican set and confronted her husband.
But now, four decades on from the blockbuster, Michael has ‘come clean’.
In his explosive memoir, he recalls how he and Kathleen, now 72, fell madly in ‘lust’ at first sight: ‘Kathleen was smart, funny and sexy, with a deep sultry voice that became her signature. I instantly liked her and we were immediately attracted to each other.’
The Fatal Attraction actor added: ‘Things at home were in a bad place. Diandra and I were both having extramarital affairs. The truth is that during the production of Romancing The Stone, Kathleen and I fell hard for each other and began a relationship.
‘It wasn’t a fly-by night affair; it grew naturally from how closely we were working together, how much pressure we were under, how much we respected and cared for one another, and how attracted we were to each other.
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‘Like every other guy in the world at the time, I was knocked sideways by Kathleen.’
Michael’s marriage to Diandra Luker limped on until 2000 when the couple divorced (pictured in 1997) – with Michael marrying Zeta-Jones that same year
The pair kept their affair hidden from everyone including their co-star Danny DeVito and director Robert Zemeckis.
Michael penned: ‘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.’
Their clandestine romance ended when Michael’s wife flew from LA to Mexico and brought their young son.
He added: ‘Diandra grew suspicious. A woman’s intuition, I suppose.’
Their marriage limped on until 2000 when the couple divorced – with Michael marrying Zeta-Jones that same year.
He and Turner had a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ never to discuss their relationship and for four decades both stuck to that pact.
Michael wrote: ‘The official story went as follows: Yes, we confessed, we had amazing chemistry. 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. It was a lie meant to protect my wife and son, a lie we told the world for 40 years.’
Kathleen honoured that pact in an interview with The Mail on Sunday a few years ago, saying: ‘The chemistry was there and Michael and I were both terrible flirts. We were in the jungle and I was feeling very romantic towards him. It was going to happen.
‘Then I walked on set one day and his wife was suddenly there. She sat next to him and that was that. You don’t mess with another woman’s husband.’
When asked this week how she felt about Michael ‘outing’ their illicit romance, Kathleen appeared far from upset: ‘Good heavens, what a fuss about something 40 years ago! I love Michael and I look forward to enjoying the book.’
Michael and Kathleen proved to be a box office draw, with Romancing The Stone grossing $115million at the box office.
They reunited a year later for the sequel The Jewel of the Nile, but they kept their relationship strictly professional.
They did a third movie together in 1989, The War of the Roses, which was another massive box office hit.
Diandra eventually filed for divorce from Michael in 1995 after 18 years of marriage.
According to several reports, Diandra walked away with $45million and several homes.
Michael met actress Catherine in 1998 and they married two years later. They welcomed son Dylan that year followed by a daughter, Carys Zeta, in 2003.
Michael and Kathleen would go on to reunite once again, this time on the small screen in Netflix’s The Kominsky Method.
Kathleen joined the show’s second season in 2019 and also appeared in the third and final season in 2021.
They once again denied rumours of a past affair while promoting the series, leaving it as a four-decade secret.
One Helluva Ride will be released October 6.
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