Michael Douglas has revealed he lied about his cancer diagnosis because he was worried it would damage the publicity for his latest film.
The 69-year-old actor told the world he had throat cancer when he actually had tongue cancer.
He said his surgeon told him to mislead the press and his fans to hide the fact the he might have to have his tongue and part of his jaw removed, effectively ending his acting career.
“This was right before I had to go on a big tour for Wall Street so we kinda said there’s no way we can cancel the tour and say we don’t feel well,” Douglas said.
“You gotta tell them, so you know, I said you just gotta come out and just tell them I’ve got cancer and that’s that.
“But, the surgeon said let’s just say it’s throat cancer. I said ‘okay, you don’t want to say it’s tongue cancer, why’s that?’ and he said ‘well, if you really wanna know why, if we do have to have surgery it’s not gonna be pretty.
“You’ll lose part of your jaw and your tongue and all of that stuff. So I said, ‘okay sure’.”
Douglas made the surprising admission while speaking to fellow actor Samuel L Jackson during a Male Cancer Awareness Week special on UK daytime TV show This Morning.
He also spoke of the day in August 2010 when a specialist in Montreal diagnosed him with stage-four cancer.
“I will never forget it the look on his face when he pushed my tongue down,” Douglas said. “It kind of all rushes over you, you get a little numb, very numb.”
“I said ‘Stage four?’… And that’s where I got a little scared.”
Douglas said his children, Dylan, 13, and Carys, 10, were very supportive during his treatment and weren’t too worried or scared.
“The kids were great,” he said. “They saw me have the radiation. I found the more they knew the better it was, what scares you is not knowing.”
Douglas said he now has a “95 per cent chance” his cancer won’t return and urged other men to be vigilant with their own health to avoid going through what he had been through.
“Guys, you look at your body every day, you know every mole and everything that’s there,” he said.
“If you see something that looks a little strange or you feel a bump somewhere, check it out. Please. I made that mistake and I don’t want to see you do it.”
