‘Fatal Attraction's Michael Douglas announces big life change: ‘I want to be the wife'

Michael Douglas, the director responsible for hits like Fatal Attraction, The Jewel of the Nile, The War of the Roses, Basic Instinct (1992), Falling Down (1993), The American President, The Game, Traffic, Wonder Boys, and Solitary Man among others, is retiring.

He announced the news in a press conference at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic over the weekend.

Regarding his decision he said, “I have not worked since 2022 purposefully because I realized I had to stop. I had been working pretty hard for almost 60 years, and I did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on the set.”

And “I have no real intentions of going back,” he said before clarifying that the reason “I say I'm not retired because if something special came up, I’d go back. But otherwise, I'm quite happy just to watch my wife work.”

For those unversed, the director once came face to face with a harrowing medical diagnosis, stage 4 oropharyngeal (throat) cancer which he battled back in 2010.

He even touched on that battle during this chat, admitting “Stage 4 cancer is not a holiday, but there's not many choices, are there?” I went with the program, involving chemo and radiation, and was fortunate.... I was fortunate with my medical attention and was lucky to continue working.”

He also admitted, “We were able to handle it with radiation and chemotherapy, because otherwise, the surgery would have caused me not being able to speak, to talk, as well as removing part of your jaw, so it would have been limiting as an actor.”