Michael Douglas Says Getting 'Involved With Cocaine' Was 'a Large Part of the Failure' of His First Marriage: 'I Was Under a Lot of Pressure'

Michael Douglas believes his past drug problems contributed to the failure of his marriage to Diandra Luker.

The 82-year-old actor reflected on both his career and personal life while promoting his new memoir, One Helluva Ride, which was released on October 6.

"Life is messy, and therefore so are some parts of this book," he explained before diving into the details of his split with Luker, whom he was married to for 23 years.

The former couple split in 1995 and share one 47-year-old son, Cameron.

At the time, Douglas admitted he was deep into Hollywood's drug culture, which he noted may have negatively affected his family and his relationship.

"The drug culture — pot and everything — was just part of the culture," he revealed in an interview. "But then it did get darker.”

As his career picked up in the late 1970s through the early 1990s, Douglas found himself caught up in addiction and the fast-paced Hollywood lifestyle.

“Be careful what you wish for," he warned. "Because when my career got really busy, both as an actor and having a production company. Between that and my first marriage with Diandra, which was having difficulties, and my son Cameron, who was having drug issues himself, I was overwhelmed, [under] a lot of pressure and began to get more involved with cocaine."

In his new book, he even recounted a moment in which he fell asleep after a night of partying with a straw still in his nose.

"I think it was a large part of the failure of my first marriage and going for rehab," he added. "But then I thought, it’s important to talk about it."

His eldest son later served seven years in prison on drug-related charges.

"There’s certainly guilt involved in my drug use, him possibly witnessing me as a young person or not," Douglas confessed.

After his contentious relationship and messy split from Cameron's mother, Douglas married actress Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2000, shortly after his divorce was finalized.

The couple shares two children, Dylan, 26, and Carys, 23.

All three of Douglas' children have expressed interest in following in their father's and grandfather's footsteps into show business.

He and Zeta-Jones have both hit back at criticism classifying their kids as nepo-babies, noting that they see no reason not to help them into the industry.

"I don't know a father in whatever business, be it a plumber or a contractor or a carpenter, who doesn't try to help his son join him," Douglas said in 2024.