Catherine Zeta-Jones had her own suitors when she demanded exclusivity from Michael Douglas, who was seeing five other women at the time.
In his new memoir, One Helluva Ride, released Oct. 6, Douglas, 82, opened up about his competition with NBA star Kobe Bryant, who was also vying for Zeta-Jones affections when the May-December couple started dating after meeting at Deauville American Film Festival in France in 1998.
Douglas wed Zeta-Jones in 2000, and the pair share two children, Dylan, 26, and Carys, 23.
While Douglas lived in New York, Zeta-Jones, who, at 57, is 25 years younger, lived in Pacific Palisades, Calif., “right below” Kobe Bryant, who was nine years her junior.
He hadn’t yet met Vanessa Laine, whom he married in 2001.
“Apparently Kobe kept finding excuses to stop by Catherine’s house,” Douglas wrote. “I’m not sure how many times he ‘lost his dog,’ but it was a lot!”
Zeta-Jones career was hot, and she was traveling the world for productions such as Entrapment, which starred Sean Connery, and The Haunting with Liam Neeson.
“But we started talking on the phone pretty regularly, until we could finally see each other again,” Douglas recalled.
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Zeta-Jones reflected on her friendship with Bryant in an Instagram post when the NBA star was killed in a 2020 helicopter crash, along with eight others including his daughter Gianna, 13. They were traveling to her basketball game.
“RIP Kobe,” Zeta-Jones wrote at the time. “24 years ago, ironically, Kobe was my next door neighbor in Pacific Palisades in LA. Both young and ambitious. We met the day he moved in through his dog, that started to, and continued to wander in to my garden.”
She continued, “His basketball court was my view. I watched his talent and dedication, yet how could I have known that he was to become what he became. Tragic news today. Being a Daddy today took his life and that of his precious daughter. Unimaginable loss to all. Love to the families.”