Michael Douglas, 82, details a lifetime of conquests: At least five on-set flings, countless affairs and his own ‘Mrs Robinson’ romance as a teen

DAILYMAIL.COM • 1h ago

By REBECCA LAWRENCE, DEPUTY SHOWBUSINESS EDITOR (DIGITAL FEATURES) 00:00 08 Oct 2026, updated 09:50 08 Oct 2026

He was one of Hollywood’s most prolific Lotharios before settling down with Catherine Zeta-Jones in the Noughties.

Now Michael Douglas has finally revealed the full extent of his hypersexuality in his memoir, One Helluva Ride, which recounts his on-set flings with co-stars, innumerable infidelities and a teenage experience with his own ‘Mrs Robinson’.

Surprisingly, Michael began his memoir by stating he blamed his parents’ divorce and the subsequent trauma on his father Kirk’s many affairs.

Yet it was a case of like father, like son, for Michael, who became known for his womanising ways.

His popularity with the ladies came from a young age, with Michael, 82, recalling his mother being pulled in for a meeting by his Junior High guidance counselor to warn her that Michael was ‘being subjected to a lot of aggressive female attention’.

He recalled: ‘I was just a late bloomer, so all the girls thought I was cute. I wasn’t at full height yet and was still pretty clueless, but the hormones were raging.’

After his freshman year of college at the University of California, Michael took a year off, and immediately struck up a romance with one of his mum’s friends.

Explaining he took the family friend on a motorbike ride, he recalled: ‘She climbed on back and wrapped her arms tightly around me.

‘It was a cold winter day, and as we were going along, I felt her start to press her body against mine… When we got back to the house, we wasted no time.

‘The relationship went on for a couple of years whenever I was home from school. It was complicated, and I never felt exactly right about it.

‘But I was really young, and this beautiful and sophisticated woman wanted to spend time with me. There were no expectations on either side.’

Referring to her as his ‘Mrs. Robinson,’ Michael mused: ‘She taught me a lot about women and what women liked, and it was very helpful information for a young man!

‘Honestly, The Graduate felt like a documentary when I watched it.’

Emboldened by his newfound sexual knowledge, Michael expressed he ‘had a new confidence and ease with women’, which he put into practise when he moved into a ‘hippy’ college commune in Santa Barbara.

He struck up a romance with ‘beauty’ Kathy, moving in with her and her room-mate.

However, one day Kathy left and didn’t return, prompting her friend to confess that Kathy had been sleeping with another man, who she ultimately ran off with.

Michael found a novel way to ease the pain, explaining: ‘I got over it by having sex with her roommate, who had had her eye on me for a while.’

He reconnected with Kathy a decade later after she’d married and divorced the guy she ran off with, and the pair rekindled their romance.

Yet by this point, Michael wasn’t a one-woman man, and he revealed: ‘I was also dating other women, including Nancy Pfister, who I had met in Aspen.’

Ski resort heiress Nancy was tragically murdered in 2014, with her body found bound, wrapped in plastic garbage bags and hidden under sheets in her closet.

Michael then referenced a married off-Broadway actress he’d had an affair with, later realising that an actor pal had also been sleeping with her at the same time.

‘We had each thought we were special,’ Michael recalled. ‘Nope. We shared a good laugh.’

The unnamed actress was far from the only person in the industry he would end up sleeping with.

He recalled meeting Lee Purcell on the set of their 1970 movie, Adam at 6 A.M.

Michael was single and Lee was married, but they ended up having a ‘passionate affair’ while filming after he fell for her ‘cool, smart and funny’ nature.

He explained: ‘As filming progressed, my relationship with Lee changed and we became Lovers.

‘Our intimate relationship was complicated by the fact that she was married, and we had to keep it a secret from the cast, crew, the people in the town we were filming in, and of course her husband.

‘It was a passionate affair that lasted through filming.’

The following year Michael got to work on Summertree, where he met and fell in love with Brenda Vaccaro.

‘She was the whole package,’ Michael said of Brenda. ‘She was a talented and respected actress; she was funny; and she had a great sexy voice. The sparks flew with Brenda during the auditions.’

The pair were so passionate about each other they even held a honorary wedding ceremony in front of their friends.

Yet Michael’s work kept him away for long periods, and Brenda began an affair with fellow actor Don Stroud.

Upon hearing her ‘sweet talking’ to him on the phone, Michael confronted Brenda and ‘after six years together, I packed up and moved out. I walked out to my car, holding back tears…

‘I heard through mutual acquaintances that Brenda regretted ending our relationship and especially ending it for Don Stroud.’

Yet Michael forgot about Brenda when he met ‘beautiful and smart’ Diandra Luker at a pre-inaugural party honoring President Jimmy Carter.

Within eight weeks of meeting the pair wed in 1977, with Michael’s father paying for the ceremony, which was hosted in Kirk’s back garden with a reception at the nearby Beverly Wilshire Hotel right after.

Michael’s friends, including former room-mate Danny DeVito and his wife Rhea, as well as Jann Wenner, Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty, were all in attendance.

The couple welcomed son Cameron the following year.

Yet despite his love for wife Diandra, Michael’s head was turned.

He explained they had hit a rough patch and were both having affairs when he started work on Romancing The Stone, where he fell for ‘smart, beautiful, and vivacious’ screenwriter Diane Thomas.

Michael recalled: ‘Our affair was passionate, a lot of fun, and became the foundation of a close friendship but the truth was my marriage was in trouble and neither one of us was happy.’

He claimed that Diandra wanted to ‘change’ who he was, and that his working away was putting a strain on the marriage so they were on a break while he filmed the 1984 movie.

And Michael made the most of that break, later having another affair on-set, but this time with co-star Kathleen Turner.

After decades of denying rumours, Michael finally admitted to their relationship, recalling: ‘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.’

He added: ‘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.

‘Like every other guy in the world at the time, I was knocked sideways by Kathleen.’

Their clandestine romance ended when Diandra flew from LA to Mexico and brought their young son.

Both Michael and Kathleen, who was single but dating real estate mogul Jay Weiss – the man she would later marry – steadfastly denied the affair at the time.

However, Michael asked Kathleen for permission to reveal the tryst before publishing his memoir.

The pair reunited for The Jewel of the Nile the following year – with Diandra sending Kathleen a reminder to stay away from her husband.

They also appeared together in The War of the Roses – where Michael had another affair – but this time with an unknown woman.

This came to light when he made a phone call that he hadn’t realised was connected to a speaker, in which he’d made plans to meet with a lover.

Michael then started working on Basic Instinct, and while many assumed something was going on with leading lady Sharon Stone, he was actually having an affair with Jeanne Tripplehorn.

‘While our intimacy in real life was amazing, it made shooting our lovemaking scenes on camera challenging,’ Michael recalled. ‘In front of the crew, Jeanne was so nervous that she kept laughing uncontrollably.’

The same year that Basic Instinct was released, 1992, Michael entered rehab for drug and alcohol addiction after Diandra caught him being unfaithful again.

He had called a woman over to his hotel room only for Diandra to catch them in the act, with Michael revealing he thinks she may have hired a private investigator to follow them.

It was then Diandra issued him an ultimatum: ‘rehab or divorce’.

Yet despite Michael sobering up, their marriage came to an end in 1995, with Michael celebrating being single by spending time with a number of women.’

One of which was Maureen Dowd, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Times, with Michael praising her ‘quick wit and big brain’.

While things fizzled out between them romantically, they have remained friends to this day.

Michael continued with his womanising ways until he ‘fell in love’ with Catherine Zeta-Jones the second he saw her in 1998’s The Mask of Zorro.

The pair met that year at the Deauville film festival and after a night spent talking, he recalled: ‘In a moment of temporary insanity, I blurted out: “I’m going to be the father of your children”.’

After nine months of speaking to each other long-distance they finally slept together and agreed to make things official, although Catherine insisted she would only date him if he was monogamous – prompting Douglas to make ‘five quick calls’.

The pair wed in 2000 and welcomed son Dylan and daughter Carys. Yet in August 2013, Catherine confirmed that the couple were ‘taking some time apart to evaluate and work on their marriage’.

The separation came two months after Douglas blamed developing throat cancer on oral sex. His publicist later retracted the remarks and Douglas said he ‘regretted the embarrassment’ they reportedly caused his wife.

Detailing their separation in his memoir, Michael penned: ‘From the second we separated, I never gave up hope that we would reconcile. I love Catherine in a way that I have never loved any other woman.

‘She’s my wife, my best friend, and my life partner. I could never lose her.’

The couple were back together within a year.

Yet when questioned how ‘he won her back’, this week, Michael snapped back to The Sunday Times: ‘What, I won her back? It was a mutual… You know, we had our problems but I love her dearly and, 25 years, you know.

‘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.’

The pair will celebrate their 26th wedding anniversary next month.

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