Michael Douglas ‘Determined to Live Until 100’ but Has ‘Constant Worry’ After Cancer Scare

Michael Douglas has come a long way and is in great shape at 80, but he doesn’t take things for granted after a bout with cancer that almost ended his life.

“People tend to forget he had cancer, but Michael remembers his horrendous ordeal — the chemo, the nausea and pain — and lives in constant worry of getting sick again,” a source exclusively tells Closer of the Academy Award-winning actor, who celebrated his 80th birthday last month.

The Wall Street star was diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer in 2010. Although he was diagnosed with tongue cancer, he initially told the public he had throat cancer on the advice of his doctor. If they had to do surgery at the time for tongue cancer, it could have led to facial disfiguration and pose a threat to his prolific career.

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After aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatment, he was declared tumor-free in January 2011 and has credited the medical team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York for “saving my life.”

Still, he will remember the health scare for the rest of his life.

“That’s why he’s changed his life around — to keep that fear from becoming a reality,” the source says. “He sticks to a gluten-free diet and avoids booze, cigarettes and caffeine. He won’t even have dessert for the most part because he’s cut way back on sugar. Plus, he gets regular check-ups and takes vitamin supplements to boost his immune system and exercises every day to keep his stamina levels up and maintain muscle mass.”

The actor “used to hate exercise,” the insider adds. “Now he can do multiple sets of one-armed push-ups no problem. He was never so active before the diagnosis. Michael is determined to live until 100 or around that mark, just like his dad Kirk,” who died in February 2020 at age 103.

Michael’s cancer was particularly hard on him and his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones. The Chicago actress previously opened up about the struggle at a medical conference in New York in 2014.

“I was a mess. I’ll be quite frank, I was a mess,” the 55-year-old said of Michael’s diagnosis.

“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,” she told the room full of 3,000 doctors. “I’m very happy to be here this morning with my husband. I mean that literally. I’m very happy to be here with my husband.”

The Fatal Attraction star also spoke during the International Federation of Head and Neck Oncologic Societies’ conference, telling the audience, “In every sense of the word, I’m very fortunate to be here today.”

These days, Catherine and Michael are still very much in love.

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For their joint September 25 birthday, the actress shared a black-and-white photo of the two on Instagram, writing, “Happy Birthday to Michael and to me!! This was us on our birthday 25 years ago! I love you with all my heart.”

That day, she also shared a nude photo, in which she only donned high heels. She joked in the caption, “In my birthday suit! After over 25 years of sharing my birthday day with my husband, I am running out of gift ideas! This is gift option two, golf balls being option one… of course.”