It’s giving major throwback energy. Kathleen Turner has officially broken her silence after her Romancing the Stone costar, Michael Douglas, confirmed the two had a secret affair while filming their 1984 blockbuster. Real talk: it was four decades ago, and Kathleen is already over the drama.
In his upcoming memoir One Helluva Ride, which hits shelves October 6, Michael got real about the situation. He revealed that he and Kathleen fell hard for each other during the Mexico shoot. He noted, “It wasn’t a fly-by night affair; it grew naturally from how closely we were working together.”
At the time, Michael was separated but still legally married to Diandra Luker. According to the book, the affair hit a wall when Diandra visited the set with their son, Cameron Douglas. Michael wrote that Diandra got suspicious, had a tense conversation with Kathleen about their marriage, and Kathleen—not wanting to be the messy one in the middle—decided to pull back. Michael claimed he tried to stay with Diandra for the sake of their son, though he admitted in retrospect, “We shouldn’t have gotten back together.”
Kathleen, now 72, kept her response short and sweet in a statement to People, saying, “Good heavens what a fuss about something 40 years ago! I love Michael and I look forward to enjoying the book.”
By the time they filmed the 1985 sequel, The Jewel of the Nile, the pair had apparently moved past the tension. Michael shared that working on the script together helped them find their footing as colleagues, saying, “It felt good knowing we were back on solid ground.”
Why it matters
Even icons have messy backstories, and Michael Douglas’s willingness to spill these decades-old details in his memoir has brought 80s Hollywood history back into the spotlight—proving that even the biggest stars have drama that lives rent-free in their minds for years.
