Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones Rumoured to Split

September 3, 2013: Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones Rumoured to Split

American Actor Michael Douglas, 68, and his Welsh actress wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, 43, are reportedly “taking some time apart to evaluate and work on their marriage.” The couple, who wed in 2000 and have two children together, Dylan, 13, and Carys, 10, have not been photographed together since April 22, with Douglas vacationing on a yacht off the coast of Sardinia while Zeta-Jones stayed home in New York. Soon after Douglas came back from the Cannes Film Festival in May, they began living separately, although neither of the pair have filed for a legal separation or divorce proceedings. The couple has since taken vacations separately with their children and have appeared solo on the red-carpet but as Douglas said while promoting his new film in Berlin, Germany, he and his wife are just taking “a temporary separation, but the press, it gives you stuff to write about.”

Although some sources report that the couple’s difficulties over the last few years – including Douglas’s battle with throat cancer and Zeta-Jones’s struggle with bipolar II disorder – had “taken a toll on their marriage,” Zeta-Jones said her experiences with hermental health had strengthened her marriage. “You find out who you really are and who you are married to,” she said. “You find things inside yourself you never imagined were there.” Douglas is adamant that he and his wife can reconcile their differences. When questioned about his crisis at home, Douglas responded, &No, I think the press has a crisis. We, we are fine. My wife and I are, are fine.” When Zeta-Jones has been approached about their family’s difficulties over the past few years, she has been only positive; “It’s now onwards and upwards. We’re onto the next chapter of our lives. As long as we have health and happiness, nothing else matters.”

Douglas has won two Oscars and four Golden Globes during his 40-year career, with an estimated 115 million pound personal fortune, while Zeta-Jones is famous for her role in the film adaptions of the Broadway Musical “Chicago” and has accumulated her own personal fortune of over 70 million pounds. Sources close to the couple hope they can reconcile their differences, claiming that, “They want the best for their kids, no matter what happens.”