Michael Douglas' Dad Kirk Helped Him Exaggerate His Spinal Disease to Evade Vietnam War Twice Despite Opposing Political Views: 'I'm Not Proud'

Michael Douglas admitted to using his spinal disease to avoid the Vietnam War.

The star opened up about evading the war twice with the help of his father, Kirk Douglas, despite being on "opposite sides of the street" politically in his 2026 memoir, One Helluva Ride.

According to the new book, Michael was diagnosed with spondylitis the first time his lottery number was pulled for the draft in the 1960s.

Before his name was called, Michael was protesting the war while his father traveled the country as one of the nation's "goodwill ambassadors."

“I was protesting a country he was celebrating," he wrote. "My father was ultimately a very patriotic guy, and I was at a college that was celebrating rebellion."

While they "respected each other's opinions," Michael acknowledged that the pair disagreed on the ethics of the war. But all of that changed when Michael's number was finally called.

"I did not want to fight in a war I was protesting, and I did everything I could to avoid being drafted," he admitted.

The actor recalled doing whatever he could to avoid being shipped off, much like many other young men who had been known to "take lots of drugs and act crazy" during the physical exam or flee "to the Canadian border."

"I don’t think young people today understand what a huge role the draft played in the decisions we made at the time," he noted. "It seemed like everybody was getting drafted and everyone else was trying to figure out what they could do to get out of it."

When he finally had his own physical exam, the doctors found spondylitis, which had previously been unknown to Michael.

"I was missing a portion of my vertebrae and there was a curvature of my spine,” he explained. “This was good news — the doctor gave me a letter about my condition that I could show draft officers. The bad news was the letter had adjectives like ‘mild’ and ‘slight.’”

Despite all of his father's patriotism, Kirk was willing to exert his influence over the letter that was sent to the government regarding Michael's readiness for war.

"Dad, for all his patriotism, asked the doctor if he could send a new letter, one without the qualifiers,” he revealed, noting he successfully avoided serving in the war that time around.

The next time his number was called, Michael wore a white back brace that buckled in the front to really embrace his supposed ailment.

"I showed him the paper and he said, ‘Take off that brace.’ I said, ‘I cannot, sir.’ ‘What do you mean?’ he demanded. I told him I would fall if I did,” Michael recalled during his physical exam.

"They gave me a 1-Y designation, which meant I was only to be called if the nation was facing a dire emergency,” he added.

The Basic Instinct actor ironically later played a Vietnam War veteran in the 1969 film, Hail, Hero!.

"I’m not proud of this story," Michael concluded. "I am just being honest."