THE SON RISES On vacation in 2007, left, with
Catherine Zeta-Jones and children Carys, Dylan,
and Cameron (with girlfriend Kelly Sott). Above,
as trader Gordon Gekko in the original Wall Street.
complications. Douglas’s future in-laws—David, a retired
confectioner, and Patricia, both now 62—were three years
younger than the groom. “I wasn’t quite the son-in-law
they’d envisioned,” Douglas wryly notes. “I do like to wind
up Catherine’s father and call him Pops.”
He has since learned much about partnership. Douglas
credits two of his wife’s strengths with making the marriage
work: “Catherine has a great sense of humor and is not a de-
manding person,” he observes. As a result he is more patient
than he was in his first marriage: “I try to give everybody a
little more breathing room.”
Zeta-Jones says she has also learned from her husband.
“One thing I love about Michael, and there are many, many
things, is that he gets things done,” she says. “He has edu-
cated me on how to conduct a busy life without being so
self-centered that everything else goes by the bye.”
For nearly a decade, the Douglases lived in Bermuda,
where Michael’s mother, Diana Dill Douglas, 87, has roots
stretching back three centuries. There, Douglas took a laid-
back career approach. He explains: “I made a conscious ef-
fort, with Catherine being younger in her career, to
say, ‘Do what you’ve got to do and I’ll follow you.’”
The family recently moved to their Central
Park apartment, which Douglas has owned since
the 1980s, so the kids could attend a New York
City school that seemed a good fit. At the same
time, Douglas was filming Wall Street 2 (Shia
LaBeouf costars in the sequel) and did not have
to commute for home visits. Shortly after their
arrival, Zeta-Jones landed her latest gig, starring in
the Broadway musical A Little Night Music. While
she’s working until after midnight and sleeping late
each morning, Douglas is experiencing something
of a Mr. Mom quality to his life, waking before 6:00
to help get the kids off to school. “I love to be the
first face they see,” he says. “It’s a selfish pleasure.
It’s a very special time, the mornings.”
The same could not be said of him when he was a young
father raising Cameron, his only child from his first mar-
Zeta-Jones says that Douglas thrives on his at-home role:
“Michael tells me that [new fatherhood] keeps him agile.
He’s a terrific, extremely hands-on father.”
“I’ll assume whatever responsibilities I have to. There were absences, and I was no angel.”
riage—a failing that Douglas freely admits. On reflection, he
says, “I’ll assume whatever responsibilities I have to. Would
it have been better to have been around more? Absolutely.
There were absences, and I was no angel.”
While reveling in his role as a reborn family man, Doug-
las is reprising his original portrayal of corporate raider
Gordon Gekko, a character who (CONTINUED ON PAGE 79)
