Michael Douglas shared the clumsy grandfather mix up happened while visiting his children’s college. (Picture: Shutterstock)
Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas has recalled a painful faux pas after the older father was confused for his kids’ grandpa while visiting their university.
The 79-year-old Hollywood star is a proud father of three and shares his two younger children Dylan and Carys, with his wife and fellow actor Catherine Zeta-Jones whom he tied the knot with in 2000.
Douglas addressed the trials and tribulations of becoming a dad later in life with a pertinent anecdote about getting mistaken as their grandfather while on Dylan, 23, and Carys’, 21, college campus.
‘This is not grandfather’s day, this is parents’ day. I say “I am a parent!”,’ he tragically reminisced to The Telegraph. ‘That was a rough one.’
Much like her older brother who graduated in 2022, Carys attends the prestigious Brown University.
But this is not the first time Douglas has been confused for the family patriarch due to his age. In 2021, he admitted the same mix-up happened while attending Carys’ high school graduation. Not the best streak.
‘I’m not trying to take it personal,’ he said back then. ‘They’re just trying to be nice.’
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas and their children Dylan and Carys on holiday together (Picture: Catherine Zeta-Jones/Instagram)
Michael with his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones who have been married for over two decades(Picture: Getty)
The Fatal Attraction star also has a 45-year-old son, Cameron, from his previous marriage with Diandra Luker who has followed in his acting footsteps.
While speaking to The Telegraph, he opened up about his regrets on missing out on Cameron’s childhood while busy with his career, claiming he was ‘overwhelmed and overloaded’.
‘Cameron suffered a lot from that time,’ he shared, adding that ‘family was really taking third place’. Despite his disgruntlement at being mislabelled, he is in fact a grandfather to Cameron’s two children Lua and Ryder.
Now older and an empty nester, he can’t always physically keep up with his children in activities such as skiing but, he said: ‘It’s nice having somebody look after you and say, “You okay dad?”’.
Ultimately, it seems like the award-winning actor is looking back with gratitude as he approaches his 25-year wedding anniversary with Zeta-Jones, 54.
Michael and Catherine with their kids in 2015 (Picture: Getty Images Europe)
It’s not the first time Michael Douglas has had to clear up confusion on being his children’s father. (Picture: Getty)
‘It’s been a good ride and I’ve been very fortunate, happy with the choices that I’ve made and now am kind of really backing off and smelling the roses a little more, travelling more,’ he reflected.
Douglas is not the only Hollywood star whose raising children at a later stage in life. In April last year 80-year-old Killers of the Flower Moon actor Robert De Niro made headlines after welcoming his daughter, Gia, into the world alongside his girlfriend Tiffany Chen.
In January he told AARP The Magazine that becoming a father to his seventh child was ‘great’.
‘Everything that I’m consumed with or worried about or this and that just goes away when I look at her. So that in itself is, you know, wondrous.’
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