Celebrity Mound

Michael Douglas says he faces an “eight-week struggle” against throat cancer but is optimistic about his chances for recovery.

During an appearance Tuesday on David Letterman’s “Late Show,” the actor said he had just finished his first week of radiation and chemotherapy. That drew a surprised reaction from Letterman.

“You’ve never looked better to me, and this proves that you’re a tough guy, for God’s sakes,” the talk-show host said, drawing cheers from the studio audience, according to a CBS news release.

“Let’s just say … I’m pretty lit up right now,” Douglas replied.

The disease was diagnosed three weeks ago, he said, although he had complained of a very sore throat earlier this year and had undergone testing that failed to find a cause.

Douglas, 65, who has two children with Catherine Zeta-Jones, said he enjoyed the summer traveling with his family before returning to the doctor. A biopsy found he had late, stage-four cancer, “which is intense, and so they’ve had to go at it,” he said.

However, Douglas said, the cancer remains above the neck and that means expectations are good, with an 80 percent or better chance of recovery.

Asked by Letterman about his personal habits, he said he had smoked and consumed alcohol.

According to a National Institutes of Health website, use of tobacco or alcohol are among the factors that put people at risk of developing throat cancer. Combining tobacco and drinking increases the risk.

Most throat cancer develops in people older than 50, with men more likely than women to get the disease, the NIH site says.

Letterman wished Douglas good luck, then said, “Wow, boy, I feel like I want to do something for you. Can I do something for you?”

“Ahh, give me a hug,” Douglas responded, according to a CBS transcript.

Douglas stars in the upcoming film “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” a sequel to “Wall Street” (1987), for which he won a best-actor Oscar.

Doctors expect the Oscar-winning actor to make a full recovery from the illness, but have warned him he may never act again after undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatment for the tumor.

The 65-year-old star is expected to undergo therapy in New York and early reports suggest treatment is due to start this week with doctors pursuing an aggressive course of treatment to avoid conducting surgery on Michaels’ larynx.

Dr. Lawrence Tena, a physician in the department of radiation and oncology at the Beth Israel Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York City, told Fox News: “When a patient is getting radiation and chemotherapy combined, they typically have an advanced stage of cancer.

“Sixty to 70 percent of patients, even with advanced cancers, survive.”

Lawrence added the positive news is most throat cancers are localised within the body.

He added: “Localised means the cancer has not spread below the clavicle. The body has the ability to keep cancers above the clavicle; it is just the nature of the immune system and lymphatic system. If it is local, it is curable.”

However, if radiation and chemotherapy doesn’t work Michael would have to undergo surgery, and a partial or complete laryngectomy would leave him with a changed voice, or no voice at all.

The ‘Basic Instinct’ star is remaining positive about his cancer fight and released a statement saying: “I am very optimistic.”

While he waits for his treatment to start Michael is spending time with his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and their two children Dylan, 10 and Carys, seven.

He has pulled out of all work commitments for the next two months, including speaking at a forum in Honk Kong and any promotional activities for his latest film ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’.

The ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ actor revealed he learned his romantic skills from the older ladies, but refuses to name them because he doesn’t want his mother – 87-year-old actress Diana Dill – to find out.

Michael told Elle magazine: “I was 16, they were 30. They were friends of my mother’s’. I wouldn’t want to get any of them in trouble. Though they’re probably dead now.”

The 65-year-old actor also famously introduced himself to his now wife Catherine Zeta Jones – who is 25 years his junior – with the line “I want to father your children”, but blames the fact he was inebriated for making such a forward statement.

He said: “That’s not a line I’d used before. But I don’t know if I’d ever been so inebriated on a first date.”

Michael also said that after their initial encounter he was far more chivalrous toward his future wife, describing himself as a “ridiculous gentleman” and saying he hardly so much as kissed her over the next year. They eventually married in 2000.

Michael also said newspaper reports in the 90s claiming he was a sex addict are overblown.

He added: “It just p****d me off. And the thing got enough play that it became a preconception that people had when they met me.”

The 65-year-old actor – who has nine-year-old son Dylan and six-year-old daughter Carys with 40-year-old wife Catherine Zeta Jones – insists he is happier with himself than ever, but admits it can be difficult to relate to people of a similar age as his family situation is so different.

He told Esquire magazine: “I’m probably more comfortable with myself now, probably not leading with my libido quite as strongly, which comes with age and happiness.

“I’ve probably calmed down. It’s interesting when you have kids at my age because you’re kind of betwixt and between.

“Some of your friends, the only kids they’ve got are grandchildren.”

The ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ actor – who also has a 31-year-old son Cameron from his previous marriage – credits his union with Catherine, who he wed in November 2000, for helping him finally settle down.

He said: “I would say definitely around the time I married Catherine. I started making some conscious decisions and prioritising.

“As little children entered the equation – with a bride, an actress, 25 years younger, in her prime – the important part became them.”

Michael also reveals he has experience with the stock market but unlike his ‘Wall Street’ character Gordon Gekko – famed for his motto “Greed is good” – his dalliance led him to lose millions of dollars.

He said: “I played. Years ago, through the tech booms. I definitely did it. I lost 35 to 40 per cent of my net worth on the 2008 crash. At the end of last year, I took a whole bunch out.”

The hard-luck son of Michael Douglas pleaded guilty on Wednesday to dealing large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine while holed up in a trendy Manhattan hotel where he was arrested last year.

Cameron Douglas, 31, told a judge that a New York contact first asked him if he could score the drugs in 2006. After that, “I began supplying on a regular basis.”

Asked by a judge if he knew what he was doing was wrong, he replied, “Yes, your honor.”

Prosecutors said Douglas had signed a plea agreement, but the details weren’t disclosed.

In addition to conspiracy to distribute drugs, Douglas pleaded guilty to heroin possession – a charge stemming from allegations that his girlfriend tried to smuggle him the drug in an electric toothbrush while he was under house arrest.

He faces a minimum 10-year prison term at sentencing on April 27.

“I think he handled it well under the circumstances,” defense attorney Nicholas DeFeis said after his jailed client’s plea.

The son of the Oscar-winning actor was arrested July 28, 2009, at the trendy Hotel Gansevoort as part of a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation.

A criminal complaint drawn up by a DEA agent last year said the allegations were based on information provided by three unnamed crystal meth users and dealers. The users – including someone who once worked for Cameron Douglas – had pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

Investigators say Douglas was paid tens of thousands of dollars for trafficking methamphetamine – what he referred to in intercepted phone calls as “pastry” or “bath salts.” Cash and drugs were routinely exchanged from coast to coast through shippers like FedEx, the court papers said.

Cameron Douglas has acted in movies including 2003′s “It Runs in the Family,” starring his father and grandfather Kirk Douglas.

He also was arrested in California in 2007 on cocaine possession charges. His attorney then said the arresting officer didn’t do his job properly.