Michael Douglas talked for the first time about his cancer Tuesday night on ‘The Late Show with Dave Letterman.’ The actor told the audience he’s in the middle of an “eight-week struggle” against throat cancer but is hopeful about his chances for recovery.
Douglas revealed that he was diagnosed three weeks ago, though he’d complained of a sore throat and ear pain at one point earlier this year. Testing at the time didn’t find a cause for the discomfort. When he returned to the doctor after a summer of traveling with wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and their two kids, Dylan Michael and Carys Zeta, he was diagnosed with stage-four cancer, “which is intense, and so they’ve had to go at it,” he said.
“It makes me furious they didn’t detect it earlier,” Zeta-Jones told PEOPLE. “He sought every option and nothing was found.”
When the actor revealed to Letterman that he’d just finished his first week of radiation and chemotherapy, the talk show host was visibly surprised. “You’ve never looked better to me, and this proves that you’re a tough guy, for God’s sakes,” Letterman said.
The ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ actor said his cancer has remained above the neck, which is good news — he said this means there is an 80 percent or better chance of recovery.
“It’s a fight,” the Oscar winner told PEOPLE for its latest cover story. “It really knocks you out.”
Douglas announced on Aug. 16 that a tumor had been discovered in his throat after he noticed his voice had become hoarse and he was having trouble swallowing. “I am very optimistic,” Douglas said in a statement at the time.
Experts in the field say the actor faces a tough — but winnable — fight.
Dr. Kenneth Hu, co-director of the Head and Neck Institute at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, told ‘Good Morning America’ that the fact that Douglas is getting radiation at this stage hints that the cancer is beatable, but that his voice will likely emerge hoarser than it was. If surgery is necessary, there is an increased risk of permanently damaging the actor’s vocal chords.
Douglas’ voice can be heard every weekday evening as the announcer for NBC’s ‘Nightly News’ program. He’s had the job since 2007.
“The hardest part is seeing his fatigue, because Michael is never tired,” Zeta-Jones said of her 65-year-old husband, who told his children the grim news himself. “Daddy sat them down and told them he has cancer now.”
Douglas has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards, first as producer of 1975′s Best Picture, ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,’ and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in ‘Wall Street.’ Douglas received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2009.
He will next be seen onscreen reprising his role as disgraced moneyman Gordon Gekko in the anticipated sequel ‘Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps,’ due out Sept. 24.
Douglas’ reprisal of the role has led him into some legal trouble with his ex-wife, Diandra Douglas. Despite his throat cancer diagnosis, Douglas refused to delay his ongoing court battle over Diandra’s claim that she’s entitled to half his earnings from ‘Money Never Sleeps.’ Diandra had offered to postpone the hearing, but “Michael declined — he wants to get this over with as soon as possible,” a source told Page Six.
The suit appears to hinge on a clause in Michael and Diandra’s divorce settlement that entitles her to 50 percent of any earnings Michael receives from any movies he did — including residuals, merchandising and ancillary rights — during their 23-year marriage. According to Diandra’s lawyers, that provision includes any “spinoffs” of Douglas’ movies.
The divorce remains one of the costliest in Hollywood history. The pair’s split was bitter, to say the least, with Diandra accusing Michael of sex and alcohol addiction and multiple infidelities. In 2007, Forbes magazine compiled a list of the 10 most expensive celebrity divorces and listed the Douglases’ at number eight. Diandra walked away with an estimated $45 million and the couple’s homes in Beverly Hills and Majorca.
Michael and Diandra recently came together to support their son, Cameron, who was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in dealing methamphetamine and cocaine in New York City.
