A lasting love. Celebrity couples like Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are the definition of “power couple.”
Douglas and Zeta-Jones were first introduced in 1998.”I had been told Michael Douglas wanted to meet me,” the Chicago actress told Larry King in 2001. “I was a little nervous because I didn’t quite know what he wanted to meet me about.”
Meanwhile, the Falling Down actor knew immediately that the duo would have a future together — but worried that a cheesy pickup line might have ruined his chances.
“I said to her after about half an hour [of hanging out], ‘You know, I’m going to be the father of your children,’” he revealed during a 2016 appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show. “It sounded good, and she said, ‘You know, I’ve heard a lot about you and I’ve seen a lot about you, and I think it’s time I say goodnight.’”
To correct his mistake, The Kominsky Method star sent her flowers and an apology, which seemed to work. He proposed to his love in 1999 and they said “I do” nearly one year later. They are the parents of a son, Dylan, and daughter, Carys.
Douglas and Zeta-Jones have also proven that age is just a number, as the longtime couple — who share the same birthday, September 25 — have a 25-year age gap. “Catherine, my wife, and I have the same birthday,” he explained on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in October 2019. “Twenty-five years apart, the same day, but who’s counting?”
Zeta-Jones’ parents are the same age as her spouse but they “never even question that there was a 25-year age difference,” she said, according to E! News.
Though their relationship has spanned two decades so far, the actors still encounter bumps along the way — just like any other couple. During a Today show appearance in November 2017, the Mask of Zorro actress spoke about overcoming obstacles in a marriage.
“I think it’s just unfathomable to me that you would be with one person for 18 years, and things are not rosy every day. They’re just not,” she said. “My mother and father were married for 52 years and they were a wonderful blueprint for me, because I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly with them, and they’re still going strong.”
Zeta-Jones then noted that she has “a very open relationship” with Douglas, and added that it’s important for couples to “be open and honest and share things that, probably, people at the drugstore wouldn’t share over the counter.”
Douglas, for his part, told Us Weekly exclusively in September 2019 that it’s crucial to “talk things out” with your significant other. “It’s taken me a long time, but resentment is an easy thing to keep under the surface,” he said. “I think most of the times it’s really good to get things out sooner than later.”
Keep scrolling to take a closer look at Douglas and Zeta-Jones’ relationship through the years:
