Michael Douglas has disclosed a second on-set affair in his new memoir, this time with Basic Instinct co-star Jeanne Tripplehorn.
The 82-year-old actor, who received Tripplehorn’s blessing before writing about their relationship, detailed in One Helluva Ride how the romance nearly ended his first marriage to Diandra Luker. Douglas and Luker, who share son Cameron, eventually divorced in 2000 after 23 years together.
“The truth is, I fell very hard for Jeanne despite our nearly 20-year age difference,” Douglas wrote in the book. He added that the relationship was serious enough to prompt real marital upheaval. “In fact, I was ready to officially leave my wife for Jeanne. I was crazy about her.”
The affair with Tripplehorn, then in her late twenties, lasted through the production of the 1992 erotic thriller but fizzled once filming concluded. “My relationship with Jeanne lasted through production, then we went our separate ways,” Douglas confirmed in the memoir. Tripplehorn married actor Leland Orser in 2000, the same year Douglas wed Catherine Zeta-Jones.
This marks the second time Douglas has publicly acknowledged stepping out during his marriage to Luker. He previously confirmed a romance with Kathleen Turner during the 1984 Mexico shoot of Romancing the Stone, though that relationship unfolded while he and Luker were separated. Turner and Douglas carried on an affair that they concealed for four decades with a coordinated cover story.
“The official story went as follows: 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,” Douglas wrote of their long-running denial. “It was a lie meant to protect my wife and son, a lie we told the world for 40 years.”
Turner, 70, has responded to the renewed attention with characteristic indifference. Speaking to PEOPLE, she dismissed the fuss over ancient history. “Good heavens what a fuss about something 40 years ago!” she said. “I love Michael and I look forward to enjoying the book.”
The Romancing the Stone period involved overlapping complications for Douglas. He also disclosed an affair with Diane Thomas, the film’s screenwriter, during that same Mexico shoot. “Things at home were in a bad place. Diandra and I were both having extramarital affairs, including my recent romance with Diane Thomas,” he wrote. “I left for Mexico still technically married, but separated.” He described the Thomas affair as organic rather than impulsive: “It wasn’t a fly-by night affair; it grew naturally from how closely we were working together.”
Douglas’s marriage to Luker survived both the Turner and Thomas entanglements only to crumble under the weight of the Tripplehorn connection. The actor has described the Basic Instinct period as the closest he came to actually leaving his first wife, though he ultimately remained until their 2000 split.
The memoir, released in recent weeks, has systematically unpacked the actor’s romantic history with the same candor that has characterized his promotional tour. Douglas has not shied from discussing the physical dimensions of his on-screen partnerships either, including an anecdote about his stubble causing Sharon Stone a rash in “delicate areas” during their Basic Instinct scenes.
Douglas and Zeta-Jones, who married in 2000 and have two children together, recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.