Fans might be surprised that Michael Douglas is finally admitting he and Kathleen Turner were romancing each other while filming the 1984 film Romancing the Stone. But for Turner, the hubbub is much ado about nothing.
“Good heavens what a fuss about something 40 years ago!” Turner, told People in a statement, after the magazine shared an excerpt from Douglas’ new memoir, One Helluva Ride. “I love Michael and I look forward to enjoying the book.”
In One Helluva Ride, Douglas recalls vibing with Turner when they met to discuss the prospect of her playing the romance-novelist lead in Romancing the Stone, a character who hires Douglas’ rugged adventurer to help rescue her kidnapped sister.
“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 wrote in an excerpt shared by People.
Turner got the part and headed to Mexico with Douglas to start production. At that point, Douglas was married to but separated from Diandra Luker, with whom he had son Cameron.
“Things at home were in a bad place,” Douglas shared. “Diandra and I were both having extramarital affairs, including my recent romance with [Romancing the Stone screenwriter] Diane Thomas.”
Douglas said he and Turner would meet in her hotel room late at night during filming, and that no one, not even director Robert Zemeckis or costar Danny DeVito, knew about their tryst.
Everett Collection
“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. Like every other guy in the world at the time, I was knocked sideways by Kathleen…”
But when Luker visited the Mexico set with Cameron in tow, she became suspicious. “At some point, she was alone with Kathleen and made it clear to her that we were still married,” Douglas recalled. “Her view of the terms of our separation was different from mine. This gave Kathleen pause. She didn’t want to interfere. … After that visit, Kathleen and I ended things, and I went back to Diandra. I did it for Cameron, but we shouldn’t have gotten back together. After that first split it was never the same between us ever again.”
Douglas admits that audiences picked up on his and Turner’s chemistry, but as they continued to work together — on the sequel, The Jewel of the Nile, and the film The War of the Roses and the TV show The Kominsky Method — they denied they were anything more than “terrible flirts” with each other.
“That was a lie,” he wrote. “It was a lie meant to protect my wife and son, a lie we told the world for 40 years.”
Douglas and Luker divorced in 1995, and he married Catherine Zeta-Jones, with whom he has two children, in 2000. Turner married real estate developer Jay Weiss in 1984 and welcomed one child with him before their 2007 divorce.
One Helluva Ride, published by Grand Central Publishing, hits bookstores on Tuesday, October 6.