Michael Douglas Admits to Kathleen Turner Affair 40 Years Later

“The truth is that during the production of Romancing the Stone, Kathleen and I fell hard for each other and began a relationship,” he wrote. “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.”

The Basic Instinct actor detailed how he and Turner would eat meals together before he’d sneak into her hotel room at night, the pair keeping their affair a secret from everyone on set.

The affair continued until Luker visited the movie’s set in Mexico, bringing her and Douglas’ son with her. 

“Diandra grew suspicious. A woman’s intuition, I suppose,” Douglas wrote. “At some 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 didn’t want to interfere.”

The Fatal Attraction star also admitted how deeply his parents’ divorce during his childhood affected him, and how he didn’t want to put Cameron through the same thing. (Luker would eventually file for divorce in 1995.)

“Even though Diandra and I were having major problems in our relationship, we had our own son to think about,” Douglas explained. “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.”

E! News has reached out to a rep for Turner, 72, for comment, but has not yet heard back. 

After a legal back and forth between Turner and the studio 20th Century Fox, the Body Heat actress once again starred alongside Douglas in 1985’s The Jewel of the Nile, the sequel to Romancing the Stone.

For Douglas, the second project—on which Turner helped him revise the script—allowed for any unresolved feelings to be put to bed once and for all. 

“As we sat across from each other, rebuilding the movie, it felt a little like we were also repairing things between us, finally getting over everything that had come before,” he wrote in One Helluva Ride. “Trading pages back and forth, negotiating over lines, laughing at scenes and picturing our characters going at each other in every way imaginable… It felt good knowing we were back on solid ground.”

For more affairs that rocked Hollywood, read on.