Michael Douglas claims Zeta’s Welsh background led to stress

Cancer survivor Michael Douglas has claimed Catherine Zeta-Jones broke down under the stress of his illness because of her “Welsh background”.

Douglas, 66, was given the all-clear from throat cancer in January.

But his 41-year-old wife was admitted to a US clinic for five days earlier this month where she was diagnosed with a mild form of bipolar disorder.

It is thought it was brought on by the strain of her husband’s fight against cancer and sticking by him when his son Cameron was jailed for serious drug offences last year.

At the same time, she has also been at her husband’s side as he faced multi-million-dollar legal action from ex-wife Diandra.

Speaking on the Oprah Winfrey show in the US to an audience of millions, Douglas said while he “got on with it” his wife showed typical British “stiff upper lip” and bottled up her feelings.

He told the legendary TV show host: “I think that part of Catherine’s whole background, she’s Welsh and with the Welsh it’s all stiff upper lip, not let your feelings show.’

Douglas agreed with Oprah that his health battle led to problems for his wife.

He said: “When you’ve got cancer you’ve got to take care of business. They tell you you have seven weeks of chemo, radiation, you kind of dive in and do it.

“I’m the kind of person when they’re sick, I just curl up, I don’t like a lot of fuss and no attention. I just like to get on with it. So I got on with it.

But Zeta-Jones, who has two children, Dylan, 10, and Carys, eight, with Douglas, was feeling the strain.

Douglas candidly admitted the past 18 months had been what he called “harrowing” not only for him but for his Swansea-born wife.

He explained: “In my last year and a half my eldest son is in federal prison, my ex-wife is suing me, and I got cancer. It’s kind of hard for the wife to say, ‘I’m depressed’.

“That played a big part of it, she’s got to be stoic and deal with all the stuff I’m going through. Probably the time I’m off the hook you finally relax.”

Douglas made it clear he was “so proud” his wife had the strength to seek treatment for her condition. He said it had helped her immensely.

He said: “She’s great now, she’s shooting a movie and she’s relieved she has a much better understanding because this was not something where she was clearly aware of what was going on.”

Asked how his cancer fight had changed him, Douglas was close to tears.

He said: “I’m much, much closer to my friends and family, I have a much deeper appreciation of family and friends and I was truly overwhelmed by their support.

“For somebody who has no formal religious education the amount of prayers and support I received worldwide truly did have an influence and a help.”

Of his son Cameron’s current jail term for selling highly addictive crystal meth, Douglas said he was “in real good positive shape”.

He said The Oprah Winfrey Show was apparently must-see TV with his son’s other inmates, or, as Douglas put it to Oprah, “Your show is very popular in the house.”

Cameron, serving five years, is Douglas’ son with ex-wife Diandra, who divorced the actor in 2000.

She has been seeking a share of the star’s fee from his 2010 movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

Douglas’ next film project is to play larger-than-life entertainer Liberace in a biopic co-starring Bourne movies star Matt Damon, who will play Scott Thorson, Liberace’s younger lover.

Michael Douglas claims Zeta’s Welsh background led to stress

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Jeremy Clarkson’s secret mistress has been travelling the world with him as part of the Top Gear Live tour.

Blonde Phillipa Sage, 42 joined Clarkson in Australia, South Africa and Norway – and spent several nights with him in his hotel room.

They carried on their brazen fling while his loyal wife Frances was back at their country pile in the Cotswolds, where she runs his office.

Dad-of-three Clarkson, 50, was on holiday with his family in Barbados last night as his betrayal was exclusively exposed by the Sunday Mirror.

Our sister paper revealed how the close friendship between single mum-of-one Phillipa and 6ft 5in Clarkson developed when the Top Gear team got together after each show.

Twice-married Clarkson enjoyed a night out with wife Frances, his wife of 18 years, just 24 hours before he flew out to Norway where he shared a hotel room with Phillipa.

They were spotted outside celebrity haunt Scott’s in London after having dinner with friends. But Clarkson and the rest of the Top Gear party soon checked into Oslo’s £500-a-night five-star Grand Hotel, where the presenter was given a corner suite.

The following morning he and co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond were taken in two chauffeur-driven Range Rovers to the Spektrum convention centre. Clarkson was joined by Phillipa in the first car, with Hammond and May following in the second.

He fronted two live shows and eventually arrived back at the hotel shortly before midnight.

At around 1.15am, he and Phillipa went to his third-floor suite directly above Hammond’s room. Next morning the pair were driven in the same car as Hammond and May to the convention centre for two more shows.

In the evening, Clarkson rejoined his mistress and the team in the hotel’s rooftop bar, which was crowded with members of the public.

Hammond and May sat at the other end of the outdoor bar from Clarkson and Phillipa, who were sitting together under separate blankets, drinking white wine.

Shortly after 1am, he said goodnight to his colleagues and kissed Phillipa on the lips in full view of the group and public. Moments after he left, she slipped out of the bar, followed him into the lift and walked with him to his suite.

They remained in the room all night.

After the final show of the tour on March 27, Clarkson and Phillipa joined May and Hammond for an end-of-tour dinner at a restaurant in the centre of Oslo. Clarkson and Phillipa again spent the night together before both emerged on Monday morning.

The Top Gear party then flew home to the UK where Clarkson was reunited with Frances and their children, aged 16, 15 and 12.

In Australia the affair was also in full flow. Phillipa joined Clarkson at the five-star Palazzo Versace hotel near Brisbane – used by ITV’s I’m A Celebrity…

On March 6, he flew with her and other members of the tour to Hamilton Island, a luxury six-star resort near the Great Barrier Reef. They stayed in a £1,000-a-night villa with its own pool and took a helicopter to a quiet beach before returning to Melbourne for the final four days of the Australian tour. A week later, Phillipa and Clarkson were in Johannesburg for the next leg.

They were photographed on March 18, the day after their arrival, at the hotel pool and Clarkson was seen feeding Phillipa lettuce with his fingers by the poolside.

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