Despite her onscreen success over the decades,
Catherine Zeta Jones' personal life has courted press attention for all the wrong reasons.
Here are some of the tragic details about her life and career.
Zeta-Jones' love life first became a source of fascination for the British press in 1991,
when she began dating John Leslie, a presenter on The BBC's long-running children's magazine show,
Blue Peter. Unfortunately, their love story didn't get a happy ending.
After 18 months together, the golden couple split
amidst reports that Leslie was afraid of commitment. In 2000, the TV host was asked
by Hello! Magazine whether he believed he'd been the heartbreaker as reported. He replied,
"You'd have to ask her if I broke her heart, but I always draw a line at talking about
things like that. When two people are personally involved I think it should never be discussed.
I truly believe that trust between two people is sacred."
Neither Leslie or Zeta-Jones have ever discussed what caused their split. But in 2003, Leslie
once again opened up about how much the Chicago star meant to him, telling the Daily Express,
"It was the real thing alright. I was in love with her and she was in love with me, no question.
She was lovely, we were together for 18 months, but in the end it didn't work out."
Leslie also described Zeta-Jones as his "one true love," but denied allegations
that they'd gone their separate ways over the issue of marriage and children.
After parting with John Leslie, Zeta-Jones entered into a relationship with another Scotsman,
Braveheart star Angus Macfadyen, in 1995. And once
again, her love life became a constant source of fascination for the tabloids.
You could argue that the actress didn't make things easy for herself. Shortly before she
confirmed her engagement, Zeta-Jones was pictured kissing her married Catherine the Great co-star,
Paul McGann. According to The Guardian, the pair would later claim that the smooch was
nothing but an innocent greeting between two friends. But Macfadyen was reportedly
left "humiliated" by the press attention, according to The Daily Mail. Zeta-Jones
then appeared to jinx things in an interview in which she gushed about her then-fiancé, saying,
"I'm so happy with Angus. I think this time I've found the love of my life."
Sadly, the couple never made it down the aisle. In 1996,
after just 15 months together, Macfadyen decided to call things off. But just like Leslie, it was
a decision he seemed to later regret, telling the World Entertainment News Network in 2000,
"I haven't met a woman I really liked since being with Catherine.
There hasn't been anyone with the same good sense of humor I could have fallen in love with.
I find now that I can only feel romantically attached for about a month and can't take
anything seriously any more. But when I was with Catherine I loved doing romantic things for her."
The tabloid media's apparent obsession with Zeta-Jones' private life reached
new heights — or lows — in November 2000. And her glitzy wedding to Michael Douglas
at New York's Plaza Hotel was the scene of the crime, according to BBC News.
"We had found out we had a birthday on the same day and the first day I met her,
I found that out and I looked at her and I said 'I'm going to be the father of your children.'"
The two A-listers had struck an exclusive million-pound deal with British magazine
OK! to cover their wedding, according to The New York Times. So the pair was left,
quote, "devastated, shocked and appalled," Zeta-Jones later said,
after seeing unauthorized snaps of the reception in the rival publication Hello!. Had one of their
nearest and dearest betrayed their trust and cashed in on the occasion with a few sneaky pics?
As it turns out, a paparazzi photographer had somehow wormed their way into the event.
The newlyweds subsequently filed a lawsuit for invasion of privacy,
loss of income, stress, and damage to their professional careers — all because of the, quote,
"sleazy and unflattering" nature of the photos, the actress said, according to The Hollywood
Reporter. After a six-week battle at London's High Court, which cost them approximately $5 million,
they emerged victorious. In an official statement, the couple said,
"We deeply appreciate that the court has recognized the principle that
every individual has the right to be protected from excessive
and unwanted media intrusion into their private lives."
You'd probably expect the following grisly statement
to come from from a Hollywood horror movie:
"We are going to slice her up like meat on a bone and feed her to the dogs."
But for Zeta-Jones, it was a real-life threat against her life sent by a woman
obsessively jealous of her marriage to Michael Douglas, according to CBS News.
In 2005, Dawnette Knight was given a three-year state prison sentence after,
quote, "plead[ing] no contest to stalking and threatening" the Welsh actress
via several letters to some of her closest acquaintances. During her trial,
the then-35-year-old had expressed remorse for her conduct, telling the court,
"I hope one day the victim will forgive me. I am sorry. I think about it all the time."
Understandably, Zeta-Jones wasn't interested in any apologies. In a
letter read out by the prosecution in her absence, the Oscar winner told Knight,
"You have profoundly affected me in how I conduct my life. [...] Your actions will be
with me the rest of my life — how I will be constantly observing, looking over my
shoulder. You will never be famous, you will never be infamous, you are just a criminal."
Having already served 600 days in jail, Knight was released less than a year after the verdict.
Zeta-Jones was forced to deal with further unwanted press attention in the mid-'00s,
when she was accused of being anorexic. Rumors emerged that the actress was battling
an eating disorder after she was pictured looking significantly slimmer than in her
early Hollywood career. However, the actress soon put the record straight.
In a 2007 interview with People magazine,
Zeta-Jones revealed how she first learned of the allegations, saying,
"Michael was laughing at me. He told me what [people had] said — that stories
say I'm anorexic. Do I look anorexic? How could I ever, ever be anorexic?"
The Welshwoman insisted that her change in appearance was simply
due to her healthier lifestyle choices, adding,
"I'm just working out and not chomping down what I usually chomp down."
Zeta-Jones, however, does have experience of helping others with the problem — something
she drew upon while starring as a bulimic beauty pageant coach in Queen America. When asked about
playing a character with an eating disorder by Forbes in 2018, the Oscar winner replied,
"Oh my God, it was really hard for me because I've been around it for so many years,
you know? I was in 42nd Street: I was 17-years-old, I was a dancer;
and so I'd been brought up with the image of a woman looking at herself in the mirror. I have
seen it. I have been there. And I have helped other people go through a very serious issue."
In 2010, Douglas received the devastating news that he had stage-four tongue cancer, according
to CNN. The Hollywood veteran had to cancel several promotional appearances for Wall Street:
Money Never Sleeps, and postpone the filming of Behind the Candelabra as a result. Thankfully,
after an intense course of chemotherapy and radiation, the actor got the all-clear within
the space of 12 months, as he revealed on the red carpet of the 2011 Golden Globes.
Talking to Stella magazine in 2013,
Zeta-Jones discussed how her husband dealt with the disease, saying,
"He's a very matter-of-fact person. Once he was diagnosed he was like, 'Okay, what do I do?'
He basically wanted that thing out of his body so he just blitzed the [sucker].
It was very intensive [...] but he still retained his sense of humor."
Although Douglas had decided to tell the world that he'd been diagnosed
with throat cancer instead of tongue cancer, on the advice of his surgeon,
his wife revealed that he'd hid nothing from his family. Zeta-Jones explained,
"He was very open with the children. No secrets — they went and saw him having treatment.
Together we all coped with everything. It did make us closer. But I wouldn't wish it on anybody."
Shortly after husband recovered from his battle with cancer, Zeta-Jones also found
herself in need of treatment. In 2011, the actress checked herself into rehab for a
long-running mental health issue — and her bipolar diagnosis became public knowledge.
"I never wanted to be the poster child for this.
I never wanted this to come out publicly. It came out."
According to The New York Post, Zeta-Jones' publicist declared that she had decided to
seek help following a particularly stressful year. Once she checked out of the facility,
the Oscar winner opened up further to People Magazine, saying,
"This is a disorder that affects millions of people,
and I am one of them. If my revelation of having bipolar 2 has encouraged one person to seek help,
then it is worth it. There is no need to suffer silently and there is no shame in seeking help."
According to Reuters, Zeta-Jones also returned to a mental health facility
in 2013 to, quote, "manage her health in an optimum manner,"
her rep disclosed. Later that same year, the mother-of-two explained to Stella magazine
how her first stint had been triggered by her husband's health scare. She admitted,
"When Michael was diagnosed with cancer I really thought, 'You are going to have to wipe me off
the floor.' [...] When you get sideswiped like that, it's an obvious trigger for your balance
to be a little bit off — not sleeping, worry, stress. It's a classic trigger."
In January 2018, Douglas became the latest high-profile celebrity to find himself embroiled
in the Me Too movement. Pre-empting an article in The Hollywood Reporter,
in which his former employee, Susan Braudy, made claims of inappropriate sexual conduct,
the actor gave an interview with Deadline to strongly deny any wrongdoing.
Zeta-Jones revealed to The Times later that same year that she was left both conflicted
and, quote, "profoundly devastated" by the accusations leveled against her husband,
admitting that "it put her in a really nasty position." With their two children by her side,
the Welshwoman subsequently asked Douglas outright whether Braudy's claims were true.
He insisted that there was, quote, "no story here, and that time will tell."
"He was articulate, he said it from the heart, he was honest, open,
and transparent. He now has to take the next step."
With no other allegations emerging since,
Zeta-Jones seemed convinced of Douglas' honesty by that November. She told The Times,
"There was nothing to back it up at all. For any accusation that
comes out that isn't backed up, that knocks the movement back 20 years."
Around that same time, the actress revealed to Today that she was proud
of the way her family handled the speculation. She explained,
"I'm a big European kind of family girl, and so everything is shared around the table. [...] I
think you clear the air and everyone knows what's going on, there's no big surprises."
Zeta-Jones suffered the loss of two family members within the space of a few weeks in early 2020.
First, her father-in-law, actor Kirk Douglas, passed away at the grand old
age of 103 at his Beverly Hills home, according to People Magazine. Zeta-Jones
later paid tribute to the Hollywood icon on Instagram, writing in her caption,
"To my darling Kirk, I shall love you for the rest of my life. I miss you already. Sleep tight..."
Zeta-Jones had always enjoyed a close relationship with one of the longest-surviving
stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. The pair was often pictured smiling while enjoying
each other's company, and the Welshwoman referred to him affectionately as "Pappy."
Sadly, the actress had to deal with another loss in her family shortly after.
This time, it was her cousin, Seward Johnson Jr., who'd lost his life at the age of 89 following a
battle with cancer, according to The New York Times. Zeta-Jones took to Facebook to pay her
respects to the esteemed sculptor, posting images of his two most famous works with the message,
"RIP our cousin Seward Johnson Jr., sculptor and great human being. Like his iconic sculpture
'Double Check' that survived 9/11, [his] work, love and inspiration will live on."
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