Michael Douglas Didn't Have a Good Relationship With Late Dad Kirk 'in the Beginning' as His Career Came 'Before Family'

Growing up with a mega-famous father must be hard, but Michael Douglas and his dad, Kirk, eventually figured it out.

During a guest appearance on the Friday, May 3, episode of Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?, Michael opened up about how his relationship with Kirk — who died in 2020 at age 103 — improved as the father-son duo got older.

"It was different stages. It was not particularly good in the beginning, probably it was just because of the amount of work that he was doing. He just — career definitely went first before family," the 79-year-old admitted of the Spartacus star.

Things took a turn for the better, however, as Kirk progressed further into his career and noticed Michael's own success in Hollywood.

"In the sort of third act of his career, I think the second act, he was a little stunned that I was having a certain degree of success. It is a reminder for me now as I’m into my third act that we can change," the Ant-Man actor explained.

Michael's relationship with Kirk had a positive ending, with the And So It Goes star confirming "we were very close."

"So I'm happy to say that by the time he was ending his life and before that, the last 15, 20 years, were a joy to be with," Michael stated.

Elsewhere in the interview, host Chris Wallace asked Michael whether he found himself comparing the success he had as an actor to his father's famed career.

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The broadcast journalist noted how like Michael, he too followed his own father, late journalist and game show host Mike Wallace, into his profession.

"It wasn't necessarily that I was doing it, but you'd be working with people [and] they'd go, ‘It's just like your father. Your father does that, it's just really like your father.’ And, of course, we're in a career where you're trying to create your own identity," the King of California star shared.

Michael continued: "I said, 'Yeah, I get from my father half my expressions.'"

"So it took me a long time to sort of create my own identity," he concluded after previously admitting it took him almost two decades into his career before feeling like accomplished his goals and achieved success in Hollywood.

"I didn't really feel it until the year of Fatal Attraction and Wall Street together," Michael confessed during an appearance on Sirius XM's The Jess Cagle Show with Julia Cunningham in April 2023.

"The commercial success of Fatal Attraction and winning the Oscar for Wall Street sort of finally got me free of that shadow, and I think that was a big moment," he mentioned.