Make Page Six a Preferred Source Michael Douglas finally copped to his secret relationship with “Romancing the Stone” co-star Kathleen Turner after four decades of secrecy.
In an excerpt of his upcoming “One Helluva Ride” memoir, shared by People on Friday, the 82-year-old actor described the “magic spell” of a romance on the 1984 set.
At the time, the Oscar winner was married to Diandra Luker, with whom he shares son Cameron, but they were separated and, according to Douglas, “both having extramarital affairs.”
Douglas noted that he had a fling with the movie’s screenwriter, Diane Thomas, before meeting “smart, funny, and sexy” Turner, who “knocked [him] sideways.”
In the movie, Douglas and Turner’s respective characters, Jack T. Colton and Joan Wilder, embark on a harrowing treasure hunt in Colombia.
The pair were “immediately attracted to each other” and “fell hard” but kept their connection hidden from co-star Danny DeVito, director Robert Zemeckis and everyone else on set.
Describing their connection as more than “a fly-by night affair,” Douglas wrote, “We found each other first as friends, then as co-stars and finally as lovers. Following an exhausting day of shooting in the jungle … I would sneak into her hotel room after everybody was asleep.”
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Their rendezvous ended, however, when Luker, 70, and Cameron visited Douglas on set in Mexico — and the model confronted Turner.
“Diandra grew suspicious,” the Golden Globe winner recalled. “A woman’s intuition, I suppose. At some point, she was alone with Kathleen and made it clear to her that we were still married. Her view of the terms of our separation was different from mine.”
The conversation “gave Kathleen pause” as “she didn’t want to interfere,” which resulted in her and Douglas “end[ing] things.”
“I went back to Diandra,” Douglas wrote. “I did it for Cameron, but we shouldn’t have gotten back together. After that first split it was never the same between us ever again.”
The duo ultimately divorced in 1995, with Douglas going on to wed Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2000, with whom he shares son Dylan, 26, and daughter Carys, 23.
Turner, for her part, was married to Jay Weiss between 1984 and 2007, with the couple welcoming daughter Rachel during their time together.
She and Douglas returned to “solid ground” collaborating on the “Romancing the Stone” sequel, “The Jewel of the Nile,” in 1985 and went on to act alongside each other in “War of the Roses” and “Kominsky Method.”
The former co-stars have kept their liaison under wraps all this time to “protect” Douglas’ ex-wife and son, the Emmy winner explained in his memoir, noting that they had an “official story” they followed.
“Yes, we confessed, we had amazing chemistry,” he wrote. “Yes, we were both, as Kathleen said, ‘terrible flirts,’ and yes, we were both tempted, but nothing ever happened between us. That was a lie.”
Turner’s rep did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
The actress, notably, divulged People in 2021, “I was yearning, babe, but he was still married. … It was that wonderful sexual tension, you know? When you really, really know you want somebody — and I’m saying it went both ways — and you can’t have them.”
She called Douglas’ attention “delicious” in a Guardian chat two years later, admitting, “I think we might have been falling in love. But then Diandra flew down and made it clear that she did not consider Michael to be available. So that ended that because I can’t get involved with another woman’s relationship.”
Turner previously dubbed their bond “naughty” in 2018 and, the previous year, confessed to “wild crushes” full of “fervent, longing looks and heavy flirtation,” according to Express.
She has dubbed Douglas a “misogynist” on multiple occasions, saying in 2017, “He may be different now, but I don’t think he would’ve liked me finding my power as his wife so, you know, it’s probably a good thing [we didn’t end up together].”
“One Helluva Ride” hits bookshelves Tuesday.
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