Michael Douglas, the 82-year-old actor and two-time Academy Award winner, offers an unvarnished look at his life and career in his new memoir, *One Helluva Ride*. The book chronicles his early years, complex family relationships, and Hollywood experiences, revealing a candid portrait of the star’s personal and professional journey.

Douglas recounts that in the late 1990s, during the early stages of his relationship with Catherine Zeta-Jones, he maintained multiple concurrent relationships. According to the actor, Zeta-Jones insisted on monogamy before they could date seriously. Douglas describes having “five quick calls” to make to other women — each living in different cities — as part of his nonmonogamous lifestyle at the time, emphasizing that none of the women demanded exclusivity.

The memoir also touches on Douglas’s early struggles. Before achieving fame, he shared an Upper West Side apartment in New York City with actor Danny DeVito. The two used a sock on the doorknob as a signal when entertaining guests. Douglas admits that during certain periods, DeVito spent more time outside their apartment due to Douglas’s frequent visitors.

Douglas also reflects on a formative affair at age 18 with a family friend, likening the experience to the plot of *The Graduate*. This episode, he says, provided early insights into relationships and women.

His relationship with his father, the legendary actor Kirk Douglas, is a poignant part of the memoir. Douglas describes his father as having a volatile temper and notes a difficult childhood marked by his father's outbursts. However, he emphasizes that their bond deepened significantly in Kirk Douglas’s later years before his passing in 2020 at age 103.

Douglas attended the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he engaged in the counterculture of the late 1960s, including frequent LSD use. He estimates taking LSD over a hundred times in a controlled manner. He reveals that his father did not fund his education directly but instead provided a $10,000 trust fund. To finance his tuition, Douglas turned to drug smuggling, using leather suitcases gifted by his father to transport marijuana between California and New York. He acknowledges the moral ambiguity of this period but contextualizes it within the era’s prevailing drug culture.

The memoir further explores Douglas’s escalating substance use during his acting career. Methamphetamine and cocaine were readily available on film sets, often through crew members who supplied drugs informally. He recounts a notable incident in the 1970s involving cocaine with former football player O.J. Simpson and *Rolling Stone* magazine founder Jann Wenner, describing the intensity of their drug use.

Douglas entered rehabilitation in 1992, following years of substance abuse. He also recounts an infamous 1990 Golden Globe party confrontation with actress Julia Roberts. Intoxicated and protective of his son Cameron, Douglas confronted Roberts, who at the time was involved romantically with Kiefer Sutherland, an actor in a film Douglas produced. He later apologized to both Roberts and Sutherland, maintaining a friendship with Sutherland but not with Roberts. Cameron Douglas himself battled drug addiction, resulting in a prison sentence from which he was released in 2016.

Douglas’s memoir concludes with reflections on the death of his longtime friend and director Rob Reiner, who was reportedly killed by his son alongside Reiner’s wife. Douglas recalls their extensive conversations about parenting and family struggles, underscoring the ongoing challenges faced within his own family.

The memoir offers an intimate glimpse into Douglas’s complex life, from Hollywood highs to personal lows, illustrating the resilience behind the iconic actor’s enduring career.