October 2, 2026, 7:25 p.m. ET
Michael Douglas has dropped an explosive revelation about his affair with Kathleen Turner.
The “Fatal Attraction” actor, 82, and his “Romancing the Stone” costar had a private romance despite denying theories for decades, Douglas revealed in his upcoming memoir “One Helluva Ride,” out October 6, according to People.
“Kathleen was smart, funny and sexy with a deep, sultry voice that became her signature. I immediately liked her and we were immediately attracted to each other,” Douglas wrote in the book, People reported.
Douglas said their relationship became intimate after they worked together in Mexico on the 1984 romantic comedy “Romancing the Stone.” He also said Turner consented to him sharing details of their relationship in the memoir.
The actors previously denied any romance speculation. They then reunited for “The Jewel of the Nile,” “The War of the Roses,” and “The Kominsky Method.”
Their on-screen chemistry had translated into the real world around the time his former marriage to his then-wife Diandra Douglas was “in a rough patch.” He wrote that he and his ex both had extramarital affairs while their son Cameron, now 46, was just 5 at the time. They were separated by the time Douglas flew to Mexico for production.
“The chemistry I had with Kathleen Turner was so strong that audiences were certain for years that we had a relationship together while making the film,” he wrote.
“The official story was: Yes, we admitted it, we had incredible chemistry. Yes, we were both, as Kathleen said, ‘terrible flirts,’ and yes, we were both tempted, but nothing ever happened between us. It was a lie.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Turner’s representative for comment.
“Geez, what a fuss over something 40 years ago!” Turner told People in a statement. “I love Michael and can’t wait to enjoy the book.”
Michael Douglas says he kept Kathleen Turner romance a secret to protect his family
The “Ant-Man” actor wrote that he hid the truth about his romance with Turner from the world for 40 years to “protect my wife and son.”
“The truth is that during the production of ‘Romancing the Stone,’ Kathleen and I fell in love and began a relationship. It wasn’t an overnight affair; it grew naturally out of how close we worked together, the pressure we were under, the way we respected and cared for each other, and how attracted we were to each other,” he wrote in his book. “Like every other man in the world at the time, I was knocked down by Kathleen.”
Douglas wrote that he and Turner “never had a hard time”, adding that they found each other first as friends, then co-stars and “finally as lovers”. He added that director Bob Zemeckis and their co-star Danny DeVito had no idea.
“After an exhausting day of filming in the jungle, we would go out for a meal, or leave with the group and then I would sneak into his hotel room after everyone was asleep. There were no cameras in elevators, no assistants using cell phones to take photos,” he wrote. “As (their characters) Jack and Joan fell in love, Kathleen and I kept the chemistry alive. We kept our involvement hidden.”
Michael Douglas says ‘magic spell’ broke after wife arrived
Douglas explained that the “magic spell of the set” was broken once Diandra Douglas brought their son to Mexico during production.
“While Bob and Danny had no idea about my affair with Kathleen, Diandra became suspicious. It was a woman’s intuition, I suppose. At one point she was alone with Kathleen and made it clear to her that we were still married. Her view of the terms of our separation was different from mine. This gave Kathleen pause. She did not want to intervene,” Douglas wrote.
Despite “huge problems” in their marriage, they decided to stay together for their son. The actor wrote that he was around Cameron’s age when his parents separated. And so, after his wife and son visited, he returned to Diandra Douglas, writing “but we shouldn’t have gotten back together. After that first separation, it was never the same between us.”
Douglas and Turner reunited professionally for the 1985 sequel “The Jewel of the Nile.” After reading the script, they agreed it needed work and collaborated on revisions, an experience Douglas described as an opportunity to repair their relationship.
“And as we sat across from each other, reconstructing the film, it felt a little like we were also mending things between us, finally getting over everything that had happened before. Trading pages, negotiating over lines, laughing at scenes, and imagining our characters clashing in every way imaginable,” he wrote. “It was good to know we were back on solid ground.”
In 2000, Douglas married Catherine Zeta-Jones. He and Turner remained friends.
Gn entert
