Michael Douglas and wife Catherine Zeta-Jones were present at the opening ceremony of the 5th World Congress of International Federation of Head and Neck Oncologic Societies in New York City on July 27 to thank the doctors for saving Douglas' life and share his story fighting cancer.
"I was a mess. I'll be quite frank; I was a mess. When I'm married to a man who has such a conviction for life... he fights to make the wrongs right... for the first time he was fighting for his life," Zeta-Jones said. "I'm very happy to be here this morning with my husband." For the first time, Zeta-Jones publicly opened up about her own struggle with her husband's cancer diagnosis.
The A-list couple recently separated but reconciled soon after. They shared their stories with about 3,000 doctors. The actor received his stage-four throat cancer diagnosis in 2010 and was cancer-free after a year. Douglas lost 40 pounds and had his walnut-sized tumor removed from behind his tongue following a misdiagnosis of throat cancer "not once, not twice, but three times," he said. The 69-year-old Oscar-winner candidly talked about his battle at the opening ceremony of the event "World Head and Neck Cancer Day."
"As long as nobody tells me to bend over and touch my toes and cough we're all going to be just fine," the actor quipped. "In all seriousness and in every sense of the word. I'm very fortunate to be here today." Douglas recounted his cancer battle's highs and lows and made the audience laugh during his speech.
Douglas learned he had stage-four cancer of the throat and not tongue. He learned that the two forms of cancer have different kinds of treatment. He wanted to be treated in New York because that was where he lived and he wanted to go back home.
Zeta-Jones was also treated for bipolar disorder while her husband was recovering from cancer treatment. The couple separated for a couple of months in 2013. The actress was upset when Douglas candidly disclosed during interviews that his cancer was due to oral sex. He did not make it clear that he contracted HPV, the virus that resulted to his disease, before he actually met Zeta-Jones.
