Michael Douglas Reveals the Drunken Golden Globes Clash That Ended His Friendship With Julia Roberts

Michael Douglas’ memoir has been making headlines all week, and now it’s officially here. ‘One Helluva Ride’, written in collaboration with Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr. and published by Grand Central Publishing, hits shelves today, October 6.

The book has already delivered several bombshells. Douglas, 82, writes about his affair with ‘Romancing the Stone’ co-star Kathleen Turner, snorting cocaine with O.J. Simpson, encounters with Princess Diana and screaming matches with director Paul Verhoeven, while candidly detailing his past struggles with cocaine and alcohol.

Now another revealing story has surfaced, and this one involves Julia Roberts. In the memoir, Douglas recalls a drunken confrontation with the actress at a Golden Globes party in 1990, which he describes as a wildly embarrassing incident that stuck with him for years, including a crude threat involving her Golden Globe.

Douglas writes that he attended a Golden Globes party after being nominated for ‘Wall Street’, the film that had earned him the Best Actor Oscar. Roberts, who was dating Kiefer Sutherland at the time, brought him along to an after-party.

That evening, Douglas had brought his son Cameron, who was around 13. According to Douglas, he spotted Roberts at the bar with her arm around his son, nuzzling him. Douglas admits he was pretty drunk at the time. He confronted Roberts over the moment, and in the heat of it, he threatened to take her Golden Globe and shove it somewhere very unpleasant.

The outburst left lasting damage. Douglas says relations with Roberts became strained, and the 2 never remained friends after the incident. He did try to make amends. Douglas later apologized, sending Roberts a bouquet of flowers to say sorry for what one reviewer called his drunken buffoonery, and they went on to finish ‘Flatliners’ together.

The timing made the moment even more notable. Roberts had won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for ‘Steel Magnolias’, and she would soon become one of Hollywood’s biggest stars after ‘Pretty Woman’.

The Roberts story is one of several personal grievances Douglas shares in the book. He also discusses a long-repaired grudge against David Letterman and a TV co-star who stole his longtime girlfriend. Douglas himself has acknowledged he keeps a small list of people he has clashed with. He described there being 2 or 3 people with whom he shares his hostilities.

Still, the memoir isn’t just about conflict. Douglas reflects on escaping the shadow of his father, Kirk Douglas, his battle with stage 4 cancer and his 25-year marriage to Catherine Zeta-Jones, writing that he became a new man after meeting her.

Douglas has said he finally decided to tell his story on his own terms after being asked for many years. That honesty extends to moments that don’t flatter him, including his struggles with addiction.

The book has already sparked plenty of conversation. Douglas recently had a tense exchange with The Sunday Times over questions about his love life, pushing back on the idea that the memoir is all about sex.

With ‘One Helluva Ride’ now available, more stories are likely to emerge as readers dive in. The Julia Roberts anecdote is a reminder that even Hollywood royalty has moments they’d rather forget.

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