Michael Douglas dropped a bombshell about another secret affair with a costar — this time with a nearly 20-year age gap.
In his memoir, One Helluva Ride, Douglas, 82, addressed long-standing rumors that he dated Sharon Stone while costarring in 1992’s Basic Instinct. He clarified that he was actually seeing a different castmate, Jeanne Tripplehorn, while he was still married to his first wife, Diandra Luker.
“The truth is, I fell very hard for Jeanne despite our nearly 20-year age difference,” he wrote in the book, according to Page Six. “In fact, I was ready to officially leave my wife for Jeanne. I was crazy about her.”
Douglas ultimately chose not to end his marriage just to jump into another serious relationship, adding, “My relationship with Jeanne lasted through production, then we went our separate ways. But I will always think of her as an amazing actress and a truly terrific woman that I was very fortunate to spend time with.”
Douglas and Luker, 70, divorced in 1995, and he married Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2000. Triplehorn, 63, meanwhile, wed actor Leland Orser in 2000.
Douglas’ confession about his personal life comes after he revealed elsewhere in the book that he secretly dated his Romancing the Stone costar Kathleen Turner after meeting on the set of the 1984 film.
“The chemistry I had with Kathleen Turner was so strong, audiences have been certain for years that we were in a relationship together while making the film,” he wrote in an excerpt. “We both denied it through Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile [in 1985], War of the Roses [in 1989], and even while doing press a few years ago for The Kominsky Method [in 2021].”
Douglas continued: “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.”
Douglas noted that he and Turner “never hit a rough spot” in their relationship.
“We found each other first as friends, then as costars, and finally, as lovers,” he recalled. “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. There were no cameras in elevators, no assistants using cell phones to take pictures. As [our characters] Jack and Joan were falling in love, Kathleen and I were keeping the chemistry alive. We kept our involvement hidden.”
Turner, 72, recently addressed Douglas’ claims.
“Good heavens, what a fuss about something 40 years ago!” she told People in a statement. “I love Michael, and I look forward to enjoying the book.”
One Helluva Ride is available now.
