Michael Douglas has drawn divisive responses for slamming Cher’s 1988 Best Actress Oscar win – after she beat his Fatal Attraction co-star Glenn Close to the prize.
Douglas and Close were appearing on The Graham Norton Show on Friday (30 October), where they reminisced about working together on the 1987 thriller. In it, Douglas’s married character breaks off an affair with Close’s Alex Forrest, leading her to stalk him and his family – most famously, she boils his young daughter’s pet bunny in a pot in their kitchen.
On the chat show, Close was asked about being nominated eight times for Oscars, only to lose every single one. She currently ties with the late Peter O’Toole for the most Academy Award nods without a win.
Close was awarded an honorary Oscar earlier this year, which the actor joked was given to her “[as] they probably don’t want to feel guilty anymore”.
Interjecting, Douglas said that Close should have won for Fatal Attraction. “That was her fourth [nomination]. Cher won that year.”
“Was that for Moonstruck?” Norton asked. “Oh wow…”
“I know,” Douglas replied. “That’s what we all said.”
Cher won her Best Actress Oscar for the critically acclaimed romantic drama, in which she plays a lonely widow who falls in love with a younger man played by Nicolas Cage. It marked Cher’s second and to date final Oscar nomination, the singer and actor previously nominated in 1984 for her supporting role in the Meryl Streep drama Silkwood. The other actors nominated in that same category were Holly Hunter for Broadcast News, Meryl Streep for Ironweed and Sally Kirkland for Anna. Douglas himself won the Best Actor Oscar that year for Wall Street.
Also on the Graham Norton couch, actors Kieran Culkin and Naomi Ackie erupted in giggles over Douglas’s remark, with Ackie cackling: “The shade, mate!”
Douglas continued: “I mean, Glenn gave one of the greatest performances of all time, and… you know.”
“But Cher put some grey in her hair, so there you go,” Norton cracked.
Glenn Close talks about her honorary Oscar and Michael Douglas does that... pic.twitter.com/DjbVwFQljj
— Best of Glenn Close (@badpostclose) November 1, 2026
Many film fans on X condemned Douglas for his remarks, recognising that while Close was deserving of an Oscar that year, so was Cher.
“Michael Douglas is dead wrong for that,” one person wrote. “Cher for Moonstruck is one of the best Oscar wins of all time.”
“Actually, Michael Douglas, Cher deserved that award and I will not tolerate ANY Moonstruck slander,” wrote another person.
Others, however, expressed their support for Douglas’s stance. “I can't believe Michael Douglas said this...but it's true!” wrote one film fan.
Another added: “And Michael Douglas told not one lie! Love Cher down but she should not have won that Oscar over Glenn Close.”
Close has been nominated a total of eight times at the Oscars, in 1983 (for The World According to Garp), 1984 (for The Big Chill), 1985 (for The Natural), in 1988 (for Fatal Attraction), in 1989 (for Dangerous Liaisons), in 2012 (for Albert Nobbs), in 2019 (for The Wife) and in 2021 (for Hillbilly Elegy).
Douglas has been on the promotional trail of his new memoir One Helluva Ride, where he wrote about his marriage to Welsh actor Catherine Zeta-Jones, as well as his flings with his Romancing the Stone co-star Kathleen Turner and his Basic Instinct co-star Jeanne Tripplehorn.
Last week he discussed his friendship with the unofficially retired film legend Jack Nicholson, sharing that the actor is “[doing] fine” but “has disappeared”.
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