Actress Kathleen Turner has offered up a bemused response to Michael Douglas’ startling revelation that the two had an affair 40 years ago.
Douglas, 82, confesses to the dalliance in his upcoming memoir, One Helluva Ride, noting that he and Turner “fell hard” for each other while making the steamy 1984 film Romancing the Stone in Mexico. The Oscar-winning actor was married at the time, but was separated from his then-wife, Diandra Douglas.
“Good heavens, what a fuss about something 40 years ago!” Turner, 72, told People magazine in a statement Friday. “I love Michael and I look forward to enjoying the book,” she added.
The surprise wasn’t so much that the two had a torrid love affair, but that they managed to keep it under wraps for four decades. Douglas said the couple kept the secret to protect his then-wife and young son, Cameron. He recounts being “knocked sideways” by Turner, “like every other guy in the world.” Turner, apparently, isn’t the kind to kiss and tell all.
During long days filming Romancing the Stone, Douglas revealed that he and Turner would often go out to dinner alone or with a group. He would later sneak into her hotel room when everyone was asleep. According to Douglas, even director Robert Zemeckis and co-star Danny DeVito were clueless about what was going on.
“The chemistry I had with Kathleen Turner was so strong, audiences have been certain for years that we were in a relationship together while making the film. We both denied it through Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile, War of the Roses, and even while doing press a few years ago for The Kominsky Method,” he writes in the memoir, which is due out Oct. 6.
“Yes, we confessed, we had amazing chemistry. Yes, we were both, as Kathleen said, ‘terrible flirts,’ and yes, we were both tempted, but nothing ever happened between us,” they consistently claimed, Douglas noted.
”That was a lie,” he wrote.
The affair ended when the actor’s wife brought their son to visit during filming, and Douglas said Turner then “didn’t want to interfere” in their relationship. Douglas returned to his marriage, but divorced in 1995. He and Turner have remained close friends.
The China Syndrome star later married actress Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2000. They have two children, Dylan Douglas, now 26, and Carys Zeta Douglas, now 23.
Douglas’ son Cameron, an actor, is now 48. He starred with his dad in last year’s Looking Through Water.
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