The Welsh woman and the American, both with birthdays on September 25, have overcome illnesses and separations for more than two decades
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, who this September 25 turn 52 and 77 respectively, have formed one of the most admired marriages in Hollywood for just over two decades, although few bet on them. Over the years they have shown that neither crisis nor illness nor any obstacle can knock them down. With more than 40 films and an Oscar for her, and with almost 70 films and two statuettes for him, her work is one of the issues that most keep them together. In fact, the volatility of their professional schedules, although it may seem otherwise, has also been a great help. Or, at least, that is what emerges from the statements that she made in April in The Wall Street Journal:
"The reason why my husband and I spend so much time together is that, unlike most Couples, we've never had a steady nine-to-five job. For example, I work 16 hours a day or I don't work at all. And he, the same. Thanks to this we have had throughout our relationship the opportunity to spend many hours just the two of us”. In fact, she then said that they both continued to "have a great time together" and she did not hesitate to bring up one of the aspects that have been repeated over and over again for the last 20 years: their age difference. “My husband is 25 years older than me, that's no secret. And no romantic relationship would be normal if there were no ups and downs. Our constant is to love and respect each other. We have never lost our sense of humor and we still really enjoy each other's company," the actress confessed.
Her film history dates back to September 1998. Specifically, the day her paths crossed at the Deauville American Film Festival, the second most important in France after Cannes. Taking advantage of the fact that she was promoting The Mask of Zorro and that he was in Norman City to present A Perfect Crime, Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith organized a private dinner. At first, everything suggested that there might be a crush between them, but suddenly Douglas made a comment that puzzled Zeta-Jones. As the actor narrated in 2016 on The Jonathan Ross Show: "After about half an hour I said: 'You know, I'm going to be the father of your children.
"The Welsh woman, stunned by that phrase, immediately ended the conversation by claiming that the next day she had to travel to Scotland to participate in the filming of The Trap. This is how she told it herself this year in The New Yorker: “I replied: ‘Very good. I have read a lot about you. I've seen a lot about you. I've heard a lot about you. Good night. I went to bed and got up at five in the morning. I flew to London, changed planes, went to Aberdeen, and got on a ferry to cross to the Isle of Mull. Once there, there was a large bouquet of flowers that said: 'I'm sorry if I scared you. Love, Michael Douglas'. He always says that the florist who brought those flowers to the Isle of Mull saved his life. If someone says that he's going to be the father of your children when you just met him, it's a little scary. But unfortunately, he was right, ”she added.
From then on, she spent the following months chatting for hours on the phone and seeing each other in secret whenever their filming allowed. The relationship, to her surprise, was only getting stronger by leaps and bounds. So much so that, on December 31, 1999, while on vacation in Aspen, Colorado (USA), Douglas proposed to her with a 10-carat diamond ring from Fred Leighton valued at one million dollars. "We were both sick as dogs because we had the flu," the protagonist of A Day of Fury pointed out to Ross King about his grieving state during the proposal.
The year 2000 marked a before and after in their lives. Dylan Michael was born on August 15, the first child of Zeta-Jones and the second of Douglas (he had already started paternity in 1978 with Cameron, the result of his previous marriage to the film producer Diandra Luker). And on November 18 they were married at the Plaza Hotel in New York. The ceremony, which was attended by the best of Hollywood, cost 1.5 million dollars. Far from embarking on a luxurious honeymoon, they took refuge in their New York apartment with the baby. The following years were fruitful. In 2002 the family moved to one of the properties that Douglas owns in the Bahamas. 2003 was full of good news. Zeta-Jones, for her role in the musical Chicago, won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in March and a month later Carys Zeta Douglas, her second daughter, would be born. They were happy times.
What the couple did not count on is that, as soon as they returned to reside in New York in 2009, they would face a string of misfortunes that would test the foundations of their relationship. In August 2010, Douglas was diagnosed with advanced throat cancer. “We try to keep it as private as possible, but because of what we do it's very difficult. I didn't talk to other people enough about it. Being asked by our children if dad was going to die was very hard," Zeta-Jones said in Good Housekeeping in 2016.
In January 2011, the actor was declared cancer-free. But after dealing with the stress of those hard months, in early April Zeta-Jones checked himself into a Los Angeles hospital to treat his previously secretive bipolar disorder. "I hope I can help remove any stigma attached to it," he told InStyle. Two years later, in April 2013, the actress again sought professional help. Unlike the first time, in which her representative claimed that it was a consequence of the grief suffered by Douglas's disease, no specific reason was offered to justify her admission. Since then, she has not had any relapse, at least publicly.
What happened during that period took its toll on them. Shortly after his second admission, Zeta-Jones temporarily stepped away from the screens. In the summer of 2013, the couple went their separate ways. They indeed reconciled at the end of that year, but they did not make it known to the press until later. "I'm crazy about her. I believe that all couples have their difficult moments. The only problem is that, as you well know, we are in the public eye and tend to expose ourselves a little more than most. But we're back, stronger than ever," said a jubilant Douglas on the set of The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2015.
Overcome that pothole, everything has returned to normal. He is experiencing a second cinematic youth after playing Hank Pym in Marvel's Ant-Man saga. She, since 2017, has been very busy with Casa Zeta-Jones, her own line of cosmetics, fashion, footwear, and decoration products. As she expressed it in The New Yorker: “Casa Zeta-Jones is the umbrella for everything I like. My mother was a seamstress and I sew. I am a phenomenal and crazy aspiring interior decorator. What she was looking for was to create a brand that really embodied me as a woman, not like Catherine Zeta-Jones walking down the red carpet in heels.”
