Catherine Zeta-Jones has candidly spoken about the ups and downs of her 18-year marriage to Michael Douglas, revealing the secret to their success is sharing a “very open relationship” with each other.
The actress, 49, gave a no-holds-barred interview to America’s Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on NBC News’ TODAY show, and also opened up on how they spoke to their children Dylan, 18, and Carys, 15, about past sexual misconduct allegations made against their father – as well as the impact the claims had on their marriage.
When the presenters praised the actress for being open and honest on both the positive and negative sides of her marriage in the past, she explained: “First of all, I’m so happy that we’ve made it to be 20 years together. It’s been great, but 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.
“Both Michael and I have a very open relationship. When you have kids that didn’t ask to be born into a world where it’s scrutinised or looked into… You’ve got to be open and honest and share things that probably people at the drugstore wouldn’t share over the counter.”
Catherine recently opened up about serious allegations waged against her husband Michael Douglas earlier this year in an interview with the Sunday Times, admitting that she and their children were “devastated” by the claims.
She said in the chat that she ended up having an open conversation with her husband with both of her children in the room and addressing the interview on the TODAY show, Catherine added: “We share everything around the table…
“I’m a big European kind of family girl and so, everything is shared around the table– issues with my daughter, if she’s feeling insecure, she’s a teenager, girls can be mean.
Read more: Catherine Zeta-Jones opens up on ‘devastating’ allegations against husband
“My son just going off to college – what that is for him and what this is for me, (because I never let on that I miss him terribly because he’s having such a great time), so all these conversations get around the table and then, I think you clear the air and everyone knows what’s going on. There’s no big surprises.”
Michael previously denied the allegations made against him, saying at the time: “This is a complete lie, fabrication, no truth to it whatsoever.”
While Catherine said there have been ups and downs in her marriage, she insisted: “I don’t throw the towel in very quickly on anything.”