Michael Douglas has revealed that he did have an affair on the set of Basic Instinct – just not with Sharon Stone, as was long rumoured.
The pair starred opposite one another in the 1992 erotic thriller, with the palpable tension between Douglas and Stone leading many to speculate that the pair were having an affair.
But writing in his new memoir One Helluva Ride, the 82-year-old has now revealed that a different affair took place on the set between him and Jeanne Tripplehorn, who played a police psychologist years before she would go on to star in Waterworld.
“[People] were so focused on a possible relationship between Sharon and me, they missed the real relationship happening between me and Jeanne,” Douglas wrote, explaining that the pair “took great pains to hide [the relationship] from the cast and crew”.
Filming took place in San Francisco, with Douglas and Tripplehorn, who was 19 years his junior, “spending so many hours together, talking, really getting to know each other, enjoying each other’s company away from the set and everything else in the world”.
At the time, Douglas was still married to Diandra Luker, with whom he shared son Cameron, and Tripplehorn was “unwilling to get involved” with a married man.
“But I assured her that Diandra and I had formally separated… we were both seeing other people on the side, living separate lives, and we knew the marriage was over.”
He continued: “With Jeanne, the passion you see onscreen reflects the genuine passion of our brief affair.
“I was crazy about her. But I was also just self-aware enough to know that the worst thing I could do at that moment after nearly twenty years of marriage was jump right into another serious relationship. My relationship with Jeanne lasted through production, then we went our separate ways.”
In an interview with People, Douglas shared that while he hadn't had “much connection” with Tripplehorn, 63, he contacted the star while writing his memoir.
“It’s been a long time, but I called her up and asked for her permission. That’s her business,” he said, adding that ”she said yes”.
The Independent has contacted Tripplehorn for comment.
Elsewhere in the memoir, Douglas also set the record straight on another rumour about Basic Instinct, this one alleging that he punched the film's director Paul Verhoeven on set.
Instead, Douglas explained, the pair had got into a “heated” argument after he claimed that Verhoeven was giving Stone preferential treatment.
“We both stood up; we were face-to-face. And then, suddenly, a torrent of blood exploded out of his nose. He brought his hands to his face and ran out of the trailer. I dashed after him – where was he going? We needed the on-set doctor! Outside, a scary amount of blood continued to stream from behind his hands.
“It was serious – an artery had burst, and he was haemorrhaging. We lost several full shooting days while he recovered and when he came back, he was under strict doctor’s orders to work a reduced schedule.”
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