Kathleen Turner is brushing off the commotion surrounding Michael Douglas’ revelation that the pair began a private relationship while making 1984’s Romancing the Stone.
Responding Friday to Douglas’ account in an excerpt from his memoir, One Helluva Ride, Turner acknowledged the disclosure with a brief, affectionate statement.
“Good heavens what a fuss about something 40 years ago!” she said. “I love Michael and I look forward to enjoying the book.”
Turner did not dispute Douglas’ description of the relationship, which the two actors had kept private for four decades. Instead, her response focused on the amount of attention being given to events from so long ago.
Douglas changes their long-standing story
In the memoir excerpt released Thursday, Douglas confirmed that the chemistry viewers detected between him and Turner extended beyond their performances. He wrote that audiences had spent years wondering whether the actors were romantically involved during the production of Romancing the Stone.
“The chemistry I had with Kathleen Turner was so strong, audiences have been certain for years that we were in a relationship together while making the film,” Douglas wrote.
The pair later worked together on Jewel of the Nile, War of the Roses and The Kominsky Method. According to Douglas, they maintained the same denial through all three films and again while promoting The Kominsky Method a few years ago.
Their public explanation had been that they shared an intense connection and engaged in plenty of flirting, but stopped short of beginning a relationship.
“Yes, we confessed, we had amazing chemistry,” Douglas wrote of the account they had given. “Yes, we were both, as Kathleen said, ‘terrible flirts,’ and yes, we were both tempted, but nothing ever happened between us.”
Douglas has now rejected that version directly: “That was a lie.”
The two-time Oscar winner said he and Turner “fell hard for each other” during the production and began a relationship. He characterized their involvement not as a casual encounter but as something that emerged from the demands and closeness of their work.
“It wasn’t a fly-by night affair; it grew naturally from how closely we were working together, how much pressure we were under, how much we respected and cared for one another, and how attracted we were to each other,” he wrote.
Douglas added that Turner had left him “knocked sideways.”
A romance hidden from the set
Douglas wrote that he and Turner agreed to keep the relationship secret. Their efforts were apparently thorough: He said neither Romancing the Stone director Bob Zemeckis nor their co-star Danny DeVito knew what was happening between them.
At the time, Douglas and his then-wife, Diandra Douglas, were separated. In his account, he said both were having extramarital affairs. However, he also described a crucial difference in how he and Diandra understood the terms of that separation.
The situation changed when Diandra visited the film’s set, became suspicious and spoke with Turner directly. Douglas wrote that Diandra emphasized to Turner that she and Douglas were still married.
“Her view of the terms of our separation was different from mine,” he wrote. “This gave Kathleen pause. She didn’t want to interfere.”
Douglas said he and Turner ended the relationship after Diandra’s visit. He subsequently returned to his wife.
The decision to keep denying the romance extended well beyond the production itself. Douglas said they protected the secret for 40 years “to protect my wife and son,” even as speculation persisted about whether their on-screen chemistry reflected a real relationship.
Now, with Douglas overturning the story they had publicly maintained, Turner’s first response suggests no anger over the disclosure. Her message was concise: affection for her former co-star, amusement at the renewed fuss and an intention to read One Helluva Ride.