Michael Douglas Reveals He Called Five Women the Day He Chose Catherine Zeta-Jones

Michael Douglas detailed in his memoir, "One Helluva Ride," how he made five phone calls to five different women on the same day he decided to pursue a serious relationship with Catherine Zeta-Jones. The actor recounted this pivotal moment in his relationship with Zeta-Jones, whom he first saw in the 1998 film "The Mask of Zorro."

Douglas, who is 25 years older than Zeta-Jones, was intrigued after reading an interview where she expressed a preference for older men. He encountered her at the Deauville Film Festival in France, and in a bold move, told her, "I'm going to be the father of your children."

Despite his initial boldness, Zeta-Jones was reportedly wary of Douglas's reputation as a womanizer and made it clear that she required monogamy. Douglas stated that to commit to Zeta-Jones, he ended his relationships with five other women he had been seeing, each living in a different city.

"They knew I was recently separated and in the process of getting a divorce," Douglas wrote in his memoir. "I made sure they all lived in different cities, which felt like a respectful way to be nonmonogamous. None of them asked for a commitment or even asked what else I was up to. I am sure they were seeing other people, too."

Douglas finalized his divorce from his first wife, Diandra Luker, in 2000, the same year he married Zeta-Jones. The couple welcomed their son, Dylan, later that year, and their daughter, Carys, in 2003.

The memoir also touches upon the couple's relationship challenges, including a period of separation in 2013. Douglas described it as a difficult time marked by various pressures, including his stage IV cancer diagnosis in 2010, his son Cameron's struggles with addiction and legal issues, and a legal dispute with his ex-wife.

"We had been married for more than a decade," Douglas recalled. "We had just gone through a period where a number of challenges came at us all at once. We decided to take some time apart. We still loved each other immensely, but we needed to make sure that being married was the right thing for all of us."

Douglas emphasized that the separation was hard on their children, Dylan and Carys, but they understood their parents' love for them remained unwavering. The couple reconciled in 2014, and Douglas attributes the success of their long-term marriage to sustained effort and mutual respect.

"Making that person, that partner, as special as 25 years later," Douglas told Fox News Digital. "Make her feel as special 25 years later as the first day you started wooing her. What happens sometimes, after a while, is compatibility, and we end up making more of an effort with strangers than the person closest to you. So, I think it really calls for mutual respect and a good sense of humor."

Douglas and Zeta-Jones recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, with Douglas noting that Zeta-Jones remains "an incredible date."