Catherine Zeta-Jones: Bipolar Disorder 'Triggered' By Douglas Cancer

Opening up about the experience, Catherine Zeta-Jones said that husband Michael Douglas’ throat cancer diagnosis in 2010 was a "trigger" for her bipolar disorder.

"When Michael was diagnosed with cancer I really thought, 'you are going to have to wipe me off the floor,'" Catherine Zeta-Jones told Stella magazine. ”This happens to people all the time, but it’s still a huge shock when the cards start to fall and you realize, 'My God, it really is happening to us.' I thought I didn’t have the tools to cope. But it’s amazing where the strength comes from – from family and friends, from strangers supporting us."

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Catherine Zeta-Jones said Douglas went through chemotherapy and radiotherapy for cancer and is cancer free now.

"He’s a very matter-of-fact person," Zeta-Jones said, according to The Telegraph. "Once he was diagnosed he was like, 'Okay, what do I do?’ It was very intensive … but he still retained his sense of humor. He was very open with the children. No secrets — they went and saw him having treatment. Together we all coped with everything."

Zeta-Jones declined to respond to the firestorm Douglas created in June when he said he believed his throat cancer was caused by performing oral sex on women. 

"Because without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV (human papillomavirus), which actually comes about from cunnilingus," Michael Douglas said in June while promoting the Liberace biopic "Behind the Candelabra." "I did worry if the stress caused by my son's incarceration didn't help trigger it. But yeah, it's a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer." 

Douglas later backtracked, saying: "Head and neck cancer can be caused by many things including HPV virus, smoking, alcohol, drug abuse, genes, environment and stress. I do not know what caused my cancer. If I did, I'd have a Nobel Prize."

Zeta-Jones said that overall the couple's struggles made them closer, but she "wouldn’t wish it on anybody."

Zeta-Jones is currently co-starring in the movie "Red 2" with Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich.

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