Michael Douglas: Second Time Around

Michael Douglas has been to jail. He's just completed the 14-mile roundtrip from his home on Manhattan's fashionable Upper-West Side downtown to the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where his son Careron,31,is being held on a felony drug charge. "It's been very painful," he says, settling into a deep red armcchair with a cup of coffee.
It's hard to imagine that the irony of this moment is lost on him. After all, in his next film,Wall Street: Money never sleeps. (out April 23) he re-creates one of his most indelible screen roles, that of ruthless corporate raider Gordon Gekko. At the end of Gekko's first screen incarnation in 1987's Wall Street, he traded his Manhattan penhouse for a federal prison. In the sequel, Gekko is free. What will Gekko do with his second chance? That's the crux of the plot, and for Douglas, who is getting his own fresh start as a husband, father, and son, life right now is all about second changes. My career was the most important thing in my life followed by marriage and children, but is completely reversed now, I never anticipated starting a family and the joy of raising kids at my age, he confesses.
For Douglas , the shot at a fresh start as husband and father came after his 1995 split with his wife of ultimately 23 years, Diandra.He thought he'd settle into the life of a single guy, a permament relationship "wasn't on the grid," he says. That all changed one day in 1998 as he sat in a darkened Hollywood screening room, watching a new film, "The Mask of Zorro." I sat forward he recalls and asked who is that lady. "That lady was then 29-year Catherine Zeta-Jones, making her starring debut in film. They met later that year at a film festival, his ardor had not faded. As he often does, Douglas spoke precisely what was on his mind." I want to father your children, he said and that when over like a lead souffl`e. I heard a lot about you, she responded calmly, it's nice to know it's all true." good night and she was gone. He didn't give up, the next morning he sent her a bouquet of roses, the note read: I apologize if I stepped out of line . Apology accepted.The pair spent the following year seeing each other when they could meet in the same time zone. By the time they married in 2000, they had a 3-month-old baby boy,Dylan , they also have a daughter, Carys.
Eary on the couple came to terms with the 25-year gap between them: Catherine is an old soul, Douglas says, still, there werecomplications, Douglas future in-laws - David, a retired Confectioner, and Patricia , both now 62 - were three (3) years younger than the groom. Douglas wryly notes, " I do like to wind up Catherine's father and call him pops. This my second time around and this time I make it, says Douglas.
My spin on the second chance: You can learn from your mistakes if you want to, first Michael you have to be true to yourself and not try to fool the people, because you are only fooling yourself...you have to live with yourself for the rest of your life and it's so very short so make the most out of it.The saga continues, stay tuned.