Michael Douglas reveals ‘wildly embarrassing’ incident that ended his friendship with Julia Roberts
Michael Douglas reveals ‘wildly embarrassing’ incident that ended his friendship with Julia Roberts
Tom MurrayTue, October 6, 2026 at 10:28 AM UTC
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Michael Douglas says he did not remain friends with Julia Roberts after offending her at a Golden Globes party in 1990 (Getty)
Michael Douglas opens up about a “wildly embarrassing” incident involving Julia Roberts in his newly released memoir, One Helluva Ride.
In the new book, Douglas, 82, shares an extraordinarily candid account of his cocaine and alcohol abuse, which resulted in some regrettable moments in his life.
“A typical night was probably five drinks and a gram of coke,” Douglas writes about the height of his addiction in the early Nineties.
It was during this time that Douglas had what he describes as “a wildly embarrassing incident with Julia Roberts that stuck with me for years.”
In 1990, Douglas had produced Flatliners, the Joel Schumacher thriller starring Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon and Oliver Platt.
Michael Douglas claims Julia Roberts had his arm around his son, Cameron (left) at a Golden Globes party when he was 13 (Getty)
During production, Douglas attended a Golden Globes party after being nominated for Wall Street, while Roberts was there following her role in Mystic Pizza. Roberts was dating Sutherland at the time and brought him to an after-party, according to Douglas.
Douglas says he had brought his son Cameron, who was around 13 at the time.
“We were at the bar, and Julia had her arm around my son, kind of nuzzling him,” Douglas claims. “To me, in that moment, he looked stunned... but I was pretty drunk.”
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He confronted Roberts: “I told her, ‘Take your hands off my son and take that Golden Globe and stick it where the sun don’t shine.’
“The next morning, my producing partner Rick Bieber called me and said, ‘We need to talk, Michael.’ I’d crossed a line with the most in-demand young actress in Hollywood.”
Douglas subsequently apologized to Roberts, sending her roses before apologizing to her and Sutherland in person at the Flatliners production office.
“Luckily, they forgave me enough to get through that and finish the picture. I remained friends with Kiefer. Julia, not so much,” Douglas writes.
The Independent has contacted Roberts’s representatives for comment.
Julia Roberts played medical student Rachel Mannus in ‘Flatliners,’ produced by Michael Douglas (Columbia Pictures)
Elsewhere in the memoir, Douglas reveals he had an affair with Kathleen Turner while filming the 1984 adventure movie Romancing the Stone in Mexico.
Douglas said that they kept their affair hidden from everyone, including their co-star Danny DeVito and director Robert Zemeckis. At the time, Douglas was separated from Diandra Luker, his first wife and Cameron’s mother.
He later got back together with Diandra before later getting divorced in 2000. Douglas married his current wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, later that year. The pair have two children together: Dylan and Carys.
After Douglas’s confession made headlines, Turner told People magazine in a statement: “Good heavens, what a fuss about something 40 years ago! I love Michael, and I look forward to enjoying the book.”
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
