Michael Douglas once hatched a harebrained scheme and hired a bunch of goons to “kidnap” his own son in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to get him off drugs!
Cameron Douglas had spiraled into addiction, and by 2004 was injecting cocaine, when his famous father arranged for three guys to scare him straight!
Cameron Douglas launching his European DJ tour at the ‘Betty Ford Klinic’ club, in Hamburg, Germany, in 2004. Photo: Shutterstock
Describing the botched intervention in his new memoir, Long Way Home, Cameron said he was walking with his dog and his Basic Instinct star dad when Michael broke away and a trio of “hulking dudes” closed in on him.
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“As the three guys surround me I go into fight-or-flight mode,” he wrote.
“The goons start trying to reason with me. I say, ‘I don’t know what the f–k is going to happen right now, but I can promise you it’s not going to turn out well.’ I’m a cornered animal and they can see that.”
He referred to the debacle as a “concern-fueled kidnapping attempt” — noting how his father later “crossed the threshold between desperate and numb” when he introduced Cameron to a drug counselor.
Michael Douglas, Diandra Luker Douglas and Cameron Douglas at the 8th Annual Humanitarian Award presented by the American Red Cross, in New York City, 1991. Photo: Globe Photos/mediapunch/Shutterstock.
The prodigal son — whose mother is Michael’s first wife, Diandra Luker — continued to use illegal substances and moved to Los Angeles, where in 2007 he was arrested for possession of liquid cocaine.
The Drug Enforcement Administration then arrested him in 2009 for heroin possession and distribution of methamphetamine. Cameron was handed a five-year sentence, but got another four and a half years tacked on in 2011 after he was caught with narcotics in jail.
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His former attorney Jennifer Ridha later wrote in a memoir how she smuggled the prescription drug Xanax to him in jail and even struck up a romance with him!
Michael and Diandra were both supportive throughout their son’s jail time, writing letters to judges and campaigning for his release — especially when he was kept in solitary for nearly two years!
Michael mentioned Cameron’s problems in the prison system in a speech when he won an Emmy in 2013 for the HBO movie Behind the Candelabra.
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Cameron was finally released in 2016 and moved back to Los Angeles, where he and partner Viviane Thibes share a daughter, Lua, who will be two in December.
Viviane Thibes and Cameron Douglas in July, 2019 at a benefit reading of ‘Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter, and a Lifetime in Hollywood.’ Photo: Ryan Miller/Shutterstock
However, The National ENQUIRER recently caught them having a bust-up over dinner at hotspot Cecconi’s!
Michael has admitted to his own battle with drugs and alcohol, but recently said he’s “not really” sober.
