Michael Douglas stuns Hollywood with tell-all sex memoir - but friends turn on his 'desperate' antics: 'He is normally a class act... it's shocking'

Michael Douglas was born into a life of Hollywood royalty as the son of acclaimed actor Kirk Douglas, of Spartacus fame.

But he carved out an impressive acting career in his own right. As well as TV shows like The Streets Of San Francisco, he won an Oscar for Wall Street and produced classics like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

So there was plenty for the actor, now 82, to write about in his new memoir One Helluva Ride.

But the original 'nepo baby' instead chose to focus heavily on his personal life, and specifically, which famous women he had sex with – a literary decision that has left some friends with a bad taste in their mouth.

'Dishing about how he bedded such stars as Brenda Vaccaro, Kathleen Turner and Jeanne Tripplehorn - and even his own wife Catherine Zeta-Jones - is kind of a desperate move,' a source told the Daily Mail.

'It's shocking he has written so much about the women he has slept with, it seems distasteful even if he got permission from the women. Michael is still very powerful in Hollywood so I wonder if they felt like they couldn't say no.'

When the Hollywood icon announced he was writing a book, he made it clear he was going to discuss whatever he wanted.

'After being asked for many years, I've finally decided it's time to tell my story on my own terms,' Douglas said in a statement through Grand Central Publishing, adding that the book would be 'raw.' 

But he may have said too much in the tell-all, which those close to the star say is unlike him.

'Michael is normally a class act, he is very much a gentleman with great manners,' said the source. 'He has CEO and doctor friends who don't care about Hollywood, and he travels in a cultured, altruistic crowd full of heavy hitters.

'So it came as a shock to his friends – both in the real world and in Hollywood – that he took a tabloid approach to his new memoir. Maybe he felt pressured by the publisher? That is likely. But friends feel he may have wanted this attention.'

The source thinks Douglas's ego got the better of him. 

'Michael wants to be in the news. Sure, he is a nice guy, but he also has a massive ego and wants to stay in the spotlight, he cares about his legacy and being an icon,' shared the source.

'Now everyone is talking about Michael again, it should make him happy. I know he likes the press and to be on magazine covers, so he should be thrilled people are listening to him still even though he is in his eighties. He is proving to the world he is not washed up.'

And it appears he was eager to do anything that would help him pop up on The New York Times' bestseller list. 

'It seems like Michael really wanted to sell this book. He knew talking about the famous women he slept with would make headlines. He does not need the money as he is already super rich,' shared the source. 

Douglas is reportedly worth around $350 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

His plan looks to be working. The book was selected as a featured fall nonfiction choice by The New York Times, which praised it as a 'blockbuster - intimate and uncensored, worthy of a bucket of popcorn with extra butter.' 

As for his tales of A-list romances laid bare, they are indeed riveting.

One of the biggest revelations is that he slept with Turner, now 72, when they played lovers in 1984's Romancing The Stone, after he slept with the film's writer Diane Thomas.

'It's weird he would admit to that because he was still married to Diandra [Luker] at the time,' said the source.

Douglas said he got permission from Turner to share the story and when she was asked about his loose lips this month, she seemed fine with it. 'Good heavens what a fuss about something 40 years ago! I love Michael, and I look forward to enjoying the book,' she told People.

But the source said Turner may have felt she had to approve the salacious story. 'Of course Kathleen is going to say she is OK with this, he has the power to hire her on projects, like he did on The Kominsky Method. She is not dumb, she won't say, "Don't do that."'

After decades of denying rumors, Douglas revealed in the book: 'Kathleen was smart, funny, and sexy with a deep, sultry voice that became her signature. I instantly liked her, and we were immediately attracted to each other.'

He added: 'It wasn't a fly-by-night affair; it grew naturally from how closely we were working together, how much pressure we were under, how much we respected and cared for one another, and how attracted we were to each other. Like every other guy in the world at the time, I was knocked sideways by Kathleen.'

Their clandestine romance ended when his wife Diandra showed up on set in Mexico with their son Cameron.

Both Douglas and Turner, who was single but dating real estate mogul Jay Weiss, the man she would later marry, denied the affair at the time.

The pair reunited for The Jewel Of The Nile and The War of the Roses, then, decades later, The Kominsky Method.

Douglas also said that even though fans thought he had bedded Sharon Stone, now 68, on the 1992 thriller Basic Instinct, he actually slept with his other costar, Jeanne Tripplehorn, now 63.

The star admitted he 'fell very hard' for Tripplehorn despite their nearly 20-year age difference, writing, 'I was crazy about her.'

Douglas told Page Six he was granted approval from Tripplehorn before disclosing the relationship: 'I talked to her before I put it in the book,' he said adding 'she was fine' with it. 

'I am sure Jeanne approved of him writing about their romance on Basic Instinct because she wants to be in his good graces as he still works all the time, but I wonder if she is OK with it. She is a very nice, generous woman, so maybe she really is fine with it,' said the source.

Douglas also shared details about being naked with Stone when they filmed their sex scene for Basic Instinct, something she has not talked about. 

'Talking about his sex scenes with Sharon on Basic Instinct and how she got a rash between her legs from it is pretty gross. No way Sharon likes that. If she wanted to talk about her rash, she would have already done it. Michael revealing this seems crude,' said the source.

Douglas wrote in his book: 'During the scene, Sharon started out wearing a patch over her crotch, a minimal gesture towards modesty. But she eventually decided to forgo it, saying, 'Let's stop pretending. I'm nude, we all know it. Let's go.''

He continued, 'I did, however, have to get my face close to some rather delicate areas. At one point, my character was performing oral sex on her, and it had to look real. After a couple of takes, Sharon said, 'Please go easy. Your stubble is really scratching me!' Douglas then said he took a closer look and saw that her upper thighs were 'completely red and chafed,' leaving him feeling 'horrible.'

He also blew the lid off his romance with Lee Purcell, now 79, his costar on the 1970 movie Adam At 6AM, a relationship he said was complicated by her marriage. 

'Our intimate relationship was complicated by the fact that she was married, and we had to keep it a secret from the cast, crew, the people in the town we were filming in, and of course her husband,' he wrote.

And he also talked about girlfriend Brenda Vaccaro, now 86, whom he started dating when they costarred in 1971's Summertree.

'She was the whole package,' he wrote. 'She was a talented and respected actress; she was funny; and she had a great sexy voice. The sparks flew with Brenda during the auditions.'

Yet Douglas's work kept him away for long periods, and Vaccaro began an affair with fellow actor Don Stroud. Douglas confronted Vaccaro about her cheating and 'after six years together, I packed up and moved out. I walked out to my car, holding back tears...

'I heard through mutual acquaintances that Brenda regretted ending our relationship and especially ending it for Don Stroud.'

According to the source, it's unlikely Vaccaro still thinks about the relationship. 'I don't think Brenda thinks about Michael much anymore,' said the source. 'That was so long ago. I don't think she cares what he has to say.' 

There was also a romance with Maureen Dowd, now 74, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times. In the book, Douglas brought up her 'quick wit and big brain.'

And he didn't stop there, with Douglas also turning his attention to his own wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, 57, and sharing a few revealing details about their marriage. 

He went into detail about how she made him wait for months before they had sex, and then let slip that the first time they were intimate together took place in Mallorca, Spain.

'Michael even dished on his own marriage to Catherine [Zeta-Jones], which is odd as they are still very much together. There is no stone unturned in this book,' said the source. 'But she must have told him it was fine to write about their romance.'

He fell in love with Zeta-Jones when he saw her in 1998's The Mask of Zorro then met her soon after at the Deauville film festival.

After a night spent talking, Douglas, who was in the midst of divorcing Diandra at the time, shared: 'In a moment of temporary insanity, I blurted out: 'I'm going to be the father of your children.''

He said he was 'totally smitten' with the Welsh star. 'I looked forward to seeing her whenever I could. It wasn't that often, but I drank up every moment. What started as the two of us getting to know each other slowly turned into the longest courtship I had ever undertaken! I had always been inclined to slip right into physical intimacy, but with Catherine, I was willing to take whatever time we both needed.'

He added: 'As Catherine said, I didn't want her to become just another ex-girlfriend on my list, and she didn't want Michael Douglas to become just another ex-boyfriend on hers.'

According to Douglas, their relationship deepened in June 1999, when he invited Zeta-Jones to stay at his holiday home in Mallorca, promising her the use of her own bedroom.

He invited his friend Pat Riley, President of the Miami Heat, and Pat's wife of 30 years, Chris, to stay with them at the same time, because he wanted Zeta-Jones to see him with a 'normal, stable couple.'

Douglas explained: 'That, I hoped, would offset my 'reputation' that Catherine had mentioned the first night we met. This was important to me. Catherine was very important to me. And I thought that having my treasured friends around would help Catherine feel comfortable. Turns out, I was right.'

He then revealed that during the visit the pair slept together for the first time and agreed to make things official, although Zeta-Jones insisted she would only date him if he was monogamous – prompting Douglas to make 'five quick calls.'

Douglas explained: 'Just after my marriage, I had been seeing five other women. They knew I was recently separated and in the process of getting a divorce.

'I made sure they all lived in different cities, which felt like a respectful way to be nonmonogamous. None of them asked for a commitment or even asked what else I was up to.

'I am sure they were seeing other people, too. That day, I called each one to say I'd met somebody and would no longer be able to continue seeing them. They all took it well.'

One Helluva Ride was released on October 6. His book tour includes stops in nine cities across the United States and Canada, including New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Chicago and New Jersey. 

The Daily Mail contacted representatives for Douglas, Vaccaro, Purcell, Turner and Tripplehorn for comment.