Star Douglas fury over sex smears from 30 years ago
HOLLYWOOD star Michael Douglas came out fighting yesterday to deny “bewildering and extremely painful” allegations of harassment dating back more than 30 years.
The veteran actor, 73, took the extra-ordinary step of speaking out to head off accusations which have not yet been made public.
A woman who worked for him in the 1980s has claimed she witnessed him perform a sex act on himself and that he got her blacklisted in the industry after he fired her.
Describing the situation as a “nightmare”, the father of three said of the accusations: “This is a complete lie, fabrication, no truth to it whatsoever.”
Douglas is also accused of using “colourful language” in front of the ex-employee when she worked for his production company, which was based at his New York home.
Douglas told how he was alerted to the claims shortly before the Christmas holidays on the day son Dylan, 17, discovered he had won a place at college.
The star got a message from his lawyer alerting him to an approach by film industry magazine The Hollywood Reporter.
He said: “My head was reeling. I just couldn’t put this together. I’ve had no contact with her in 30-plus years. I talked to the Reporter and said, ‘Listen, as far as using colourful language in front of her, I apologise’.”
“None of it was directed at her. She didn’t say it was.
“It’s extremely painful. I don’t have skeletons in my closet, or anyone else who’s coming out or saying this.”
He added: “I’m bewildered why, after 32 years, this is coming out now. I tried to figure out, ‘Why the hell would somebody do this?’”
The star, who won a Best Actor Oscar as ruthless financier Gordon Gekko in 1987’s Wall Street, said he had the full support of British actress wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, 48.
The couple, who married in 2000, also have a daughter Carys, 14. Douglas also has a son Cameron, 39, from his first marriage.
He said he wanted to speak out because his children were “scared and uncomfortable” their dad will be labelled a sexual harasser in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
He said: “I felt the need to get ahead of this. It pertains to me but I’m also getting a sense of how it reflects in our culture, and what is going on today. I see it as cautionary.
“The part that hurt the worst is having to share something like this to your wife and your children.”
Douglas learned of the accusations just days after his acting legend father Kirk celebrated his 101st birthday.
The star, whose mother Diana was also an actress, added: “I pride myself of being so supportive of the women’s movement. I’ve had up to 20 female executives who worked at my company, not to mention all the actresses I’ve worked with.”
Douglas starred in a string of major films in the 1980s and 1990s including Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct and in 2013 won acclaim for the Liberace biopic
Behind The Candelabra.