Michael Douglas: I Put Career Before Son

Michael Douglas’ family has a history of difficult father-son relationships, but as son Cameron faces 10 years behind bars on drug charges, Douglas talks with Vanity Fair about second chances—with his own father, with Cameron, and with his youngest children. “My priorities were very similar” to father Kirk’s, Douglas says, recalling his absence from his son’s childhood. “Career first.”

Like Michael himself, Cameron long struggled to make a name for himself; unlike Michael, he never made that name. “The history of second-generation actors isn’t great in our industry,” Douglas says, speaking of himself. “It’s kind of a tragic road, actually.” Now, while trying to help Cameron as much as he can and growing closer to his own father than ever, he pledges to do things differently with his two youngest. As wife Catherine Zeta-Jones says, “I’m sure if he could breast-feed, he would have.”
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