Michael Douglas sat down with Oprah Winfrey in an interview airing Tuesday on The Oprah Winfrey Show, speaking openly about his fight with cancer and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones' ongoing struggle with bipolar disorder.
In their discussion, which airs Tuesday, Douglas, 66, reveals that Zeta-Jones, 41, decided to go public because her condition had been "outed" by the media. "I must say, Catherine's being quite open about it because she was outed, you know," he says, referring to the fact that Zeta-Jones went public with her struggle just hours after the National Enquirer reported she was in a mental-health facility. "She went to go get some help, and some other patient probably in there said, 'Hey, you won't believe who's in here now.' And, so, once that happens, I think she felt (it) best to kind of get out the story."
In an interview with People last week, Zeta-Jones spoke out about her condition. "If my revelation of having bipolar II has encouraged one person to seek help, then it is worth it," she said. "There is no need to suffer silently and there is no shame in seeking help."
For his part, Douglas was diagnosed with throat cancer last August and has been undergoing treatment. In January, he told Matt Lauer on Today that "the tumor is gone." In his interview with Oprah, Douglas reveals that he still has to have monthly checkups to be sure the cancer has not returned -- and so far he's received a clean bill of health. "I'm cool," Douglas says with a grin.
Winfrey asked Douglas if Zeta-Jones' condition might have been exacerbated by trying to keep a "stiff upper lip" as her husband went through cancer treatments, and Douglas joked, "My oldest son is in federal prison, my ex-wife is suing me, and I got cancer. It's kind of hard for the wife to say, 'I'm depressed.'"
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