Douglas welcomed Mario into his office on the Universal Studios lot, where he revealed that he is healthy after battling throat cancer. “I’m five years clean now, I’m happy to say, from the cancer, so my priorities are much more geared toward my family and hanging around these years before they (his children) take off.”
After being diagnosed with cancer, the fight for his life helped him to refocus. “There’s no question about that, you go through a whole period in your life and your career is probably the most important thing. We're in a business where we're gypsies we travel around the world and your family suffers to some degree. Now I’m at a unique age where I got a 15-year-old boy Dylan and my daughter Caris is 13… that keeps you young right there and you just love spending that time with them and you know how quickly it goes.”
The 71-year-old is entering a new phase of his life, saying, “Seventy for me is the beginning of the third act.”
Douglas also confessed that his children with his wife of nearly sixteen years, Catherine Zeta Jones, helped strengthen their bond. “Their values and the spirituality has really enhanced Catherine, and our life, a lot.”
Staying healthy is a big part of his life. “I don’t know if I like to work out. It’s a mandatory part of your life, but I think once you’ve gone through a cancer bout or particularly once you hit 70 and all that -- on priorities... health becomes number one followed by memory, which is probably number two, I can’t take it for granted – I’m very fortunate I got great genes. My dad, who I’m staying with while I’m out here, he's 99.”
Michael’s father is, of course, legendary star Kirk Douglas, but tonight it will be all eyes on the younger Douglas as he receives the AARP Movies for Grownups Award. “I was only happy to hear that this AARP Grownups Award has been going on for 15 years, and its one of the few awards I’ve been so happy to get later rather than earlier.”
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