Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas’s Complete Relationship Timeline
5 min readTHE RUNDOWN
- Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas first met in the late ’90s and have been together ever since.
- The Oscar-winning couple got married at New York City’s Plaza Hotel in 2000 and were surrounded by celebrity guests like Whoopi Goldberg, Goldie Hawn, and Tom Hanks.
- Zeta-Jones and Douglas have two children, Dylan Michael and Carys Zeta.
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas’s relationship is a real-life Hollywood fairytale. The Oscar-winning actors (her for the 2002 musical Chicago and him for the 1987 crime thriller Wall Street) first crossed paths at a French film festival in the late ’90s, and they’ve since welcomed two children, Dylan Michael and Carys Zeta. In addition to being Hollywood royalty, their compatibility extends to the stars, too: both are Libras who share the same birthday, September 25—Douglas is 81 and Zeta-Jones is 56.
Ahead, here’s everything that is publicly known about their relationship history.
August 1998
In August 1998, Zeta-Jones and Douglas reportedly met at the Deauville American Film Festival in France. Years later in 2024, Douglas reminisced about that first meeting.
“I had just seen three weeks before I came to the festival this movie [The Mask of] Zorro [starring Zeta-Jones], he said, per Variety. “When I arrived supporting our film, I think it was A Perfect Murder, I look at the catalogue, and I see that Zorro is coming the next night, so I ask my assistant, ‘Can you find out if Catherine Zeta-Jones is coming? And is she coming alone and if I could have a drink with her?’ The rest is history.”
August 2000
Zeta-Jones and Douglas welcomed a baby boy, Dylan Michael Douglas, on Aug. 8, 2000. According to People, Dylan weighed in at 7 pounds and 7 ounces. Dylan was Zeta-Jones’s first child and Douglas’s second after welcoming a son, Cameron, with his first wife Diandra Luker, who passed away in 2000.
November 2000
On November 18, they got married at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. According to People, the celebrities in attendance were Whoopi Goldberg, Goldie Hawn, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, and Brad Pitt.
April 2003
On April 20, Zeta-Jones and Douglas welcomed a baby girl, Carys Zeta Douglas. Per People, Carys means “love” in Welsh, a sweet ode to Zeta-Jones’s homeland of Wales. The baby weighed in at 6 pounds and 12 ounces when she arrived on Easter Sunday.
August 2013
They kept their relationship relatively private after welcoming their children, but on Aug. 28, 2013, they announced that they were breaking up.
After months of separate family vacations and solo red carpet walks, a source revealed to People that Zeta-Jones and Douglas were “taking a break.” Though they separated, neither party officially filed for divorce or took legal action.
An insider told People that their break was a result of the stress caused by Douglas’s throat cancer diagnosis and Zeta-Jones’s bipolar II diagnosis.
April 2014
By the following year, Zeta-Jones and Douglas had seemingly reconciled. On April 15, they attended an event at The Public Theater in New York.
Later that month, they attended the Monte Cristo Awards. At the time, a source told People, “Things seem to be going really well for them. I knew they were going to work as hard as they could on their marriage, especially for the kids. It’s a good thing.”
April 2015
Douglas appeared on an episode of The Ellen Show and spoke about the status of his relationship with Zeta-Jones. He stressed that both people have to want to work through the issues.
“It can’t be a one-way street,” he said. “But I’m crazy about her. I think every couple has their difficult times. The only problem is, as you well know, we’re all in the public eye, and it tends to get a little more exposed than most. But we’re back stronger than ever.” He also thanked DeGeneres’s production team for acknowledging their 15th wedding anniversary.
July 2015
Douglas, Zeta-Jones, and their two children attended the European premiere of Ant-Man.
November 2018
Douglas was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame on November 6. For the ceremony, he was joined by Zeta-Jones, his son Cameron, and his father, Kirk.
January 2019
At the 76th annual Golden Globes, where Douglas took home an award for The Kominsky Method, he gave an interview about Zeta-Jones and his children.
“We celebrated our 18th anniversary recently, and besides the genuine love that only continues to grow, I think the fact that we’re in the same industry really helps us to understand what is going on,” he told press after his win, per People.
He continued, “The joy of my marriage with Catherine and having our children at a point in my life where my career hadn’t developed, allowed me much more time to enjoy my family. The fact that all of them want to be actors—and they’re all good actors—makes it all enjoyable. They understand the whole system and principles.”
November 2022
At the Los Angeles premiere of Wednesday, Zeta-Jones walked the carpet with their son Dylan and gave a rare interview about her family.
“Well, first of all, [my] husband Michael is very happy that this is my date,” she told People. “A collaboration between the two of us, the gift that keeps on giving. Both my daughter and Dylan have been so incredibly supportive to me, not just as an actor, but just me, you know.”
Dylan added, “It’s just fun to see what they do for a living. I mean, you see them on the screen, but of course that’s just the color-fied, edited version.”
May 2025
Zeta-Jones and Douglas celebrated their daughter Carys’s graduation with an Instagram post. They are both pictured kissing Carys’s cheeks. Zeta-Jones wrote, “The night before graduation!!!! We are both such proud parents right now!! It’s only just begun!! @carys.douglas ????????????????????”
September 2025
On September 25, Zeta-Jones celebrated Douglas’s 81st birthday. She posted several photos of them and wrote, “Happy Birthday Michael! Sharing this special day with you is once in a lifetime!????”
Douglas also shared a tribute on his Instagram account, writing, “To my birthday sister—what a joy celebrating another year with you! Congratulations on your spectacular game at the Celebrity Ryder Cup. Happy Birthday to the love of my life @catherinezetajones ❤️ ???? ????” Zeta-Jones commented on his post and wrote, “Happy birthday darling❤️ I can’t think of anyone else to share a birthday with.♥️”