Catherine Zeta-Jones is heading to Europe for a long stint to film her next project, Kill Jackie, and a source exclusively tells Closer the prolonged separation will be tough on her husband, Michael Douglas, who’s dreading the time apart and is not used to fending for himself.
The source says the A-list couple have eased into a cozy habit, traveling a circuit between their favorite destinations throughout the year, but the upcoming series will throw a wrench into their plans as the Basic Instinct star, 80, will have to wait out the production process alone. “They split their time between their estate in Bermuda and their place in Mallorca already, so with her filming all over Europe the plan is for Michael to post up in Spain and when she’s got a day or two off she will jet over to be with him,” the insider explains.
The description for the new show reads, “Ex-cocaine dealer Jackie Price [Catherine] lives luxuriously selling art through tax schemes. After 20 years of anonymity, her peaceful life ends when The Seven Demons, elite hitmen, are hired to kill her.” With production set to move through Lisbon, Portugal, Bilbao, Spain, Swansea, Wales and London, England, the insider says the project will drag her away for extended periods of time all over the continent and away from her husband of nearly 25 years.
“It’s not ideal for him because he would prefer she never leave his side, but he also loves to cheer her on and see her succeed so he’s sucking it up and promising her he’s fine with it,” the source says, “but he admits to his friends how dreadful things are without her around. He says he doesn’t sleep well when she’s not in the bed, after so many years together it’s like missing his security blanket.”
The Fatal Attraction star has been wild about his wife since he first saw her in 1998’s The Mask of Zorro. He asked his publicist to set up a date — which didn’t go well, as one might expect — but later convinced the Welsh-born actress he was serious, a fact she once called “annoying” as she admitted “He was right,” to Access in 2019 about them being destined to end up together. They share two children together, Dylan Michael, born in 2000, and Carys Zeta, born in 2003, and only hit a small bump in 2013 when they briefly split but reconciled shortly afterwards.
The source notes that in the last 10 years they haven’t been apart from each other much and Michael even credits his wife with helping him stay fit and healthy, which is now being threatened in her absence, even if temporary.
“She’s also the one that gets them eating healthy and exercising every day,” the source says. “When she’s out of town his diet goes to the dogs, and he never sets foot in their home gym. He’ll play golf with friends, but that’s the extent of his healthy activities.
“He’s a mess without her.”