Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones attend the 2013 Vanity Fair Party. Photo / Getty
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones attend the 2013 Vanity Fair Party. Photo / Getty
Catherine Zeta-Jones has distanced herself from sexual assault allegations surrounding her husband Michael Douglas, as the claim dates back to before she married the star.
Earlier this month, the 73-year-old actor pre-emptively denied a potential claim that he harassed a former employee 32 years ago, in an alleged incident which involved him touching himself in front of her.
Now, his wife and fellow actress Catherine - whom he has been married to for 18 years - has spoken of her support for the #MeToo movement which aims to eliminate sexual harassment, and insisted she knows nothing of the alleged incident, as she wasn't married to the 'Fatal Attraction' star at the time.
Actor Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones at an awards ceremony. Photo / Getty
When asked during her appearance on 'The View' on Friday (19.01.18) if she supported Michael's decision to pre-emptively deny allegations, the 48-year-old actress said: "He had to come out pre-emptively because of what he believes in."
"I support this movement, Times Up, Me Too, 110 percent. Always have. Since the moment it really opened up to the public, because we all know it's been going on for years. And not just in our industry, it's been happening in the boardroom, across the board, everywhere. I support it 110 percent.
"Michael came out with that pre-emptive statement, he was articulate, said it from the heart, was honest, open and transparent. He now has to take the next step for where he goes from here. It's a question for him, because it happened 30 years ago. It was B.C. Before Catherine."
However, Catherine - who has children Dylan, 17, and 14-year-old Carys with Michael - hasn't always remained quiet on her position, as she previously slammed the allegations surrounding her spouse as "erroneous and false", and said she was "glad" Michael had taken pre-emptive action.
She said: "It was very, very upsetting. Anything like that, that is erroneous and false, would take anyone by surprise.
"I'm glad that the non-story was put straight. It was a looming accusation and I am very happy that Michael did a pre-emptive move.
"This was something that supposedly happened 30-odd years ago and was unfounded, so Michael needed to make that stance."
Actor Michael Douglas attends the 2017 Israel Cancer Research Fund Gala. Photo / Getty
Michael previously denied the potential claim before it hit the headlines as he "felt the need to get ahead of" the "cautionary tale" by speaking out.
The star revealed the woman was alleging he once touched himself in front of her, "spoke raunchily" with pals, "blackballed her" and used bad language.
While he said sorry for using bad language in front of the employee, the 'Wall Street' star insisted he did not blackball her and said it is a "complete lie" that he touched himself in front of her.
He said: "I don't know where to begin. This is a complete lie, fabrication, no truth to it whatsoever."
Michael - who was approached by The Hollywood Reporter, who provided the woman's claims to him - also admitted he has found the allegations "extremely painful" to deal with, particularly because his children are "really upset" and "scared" about the claims.
