MICHAEL DOUGLAS REVEALS BASIC INSTINCT AFFAIR WITH JEANNE TRIPPLEHORN

Michael Douglas has written in his new memoir, One Helluva Ride, that he had an affair with his Basic Instinct co-star Jeanne Tripplehorn during filming of the 1992 thriller, rather than with Sharon Stone as had long been rumoured. Douglas wrote that onlookers were "so focused on a possible relationship between Sharon and me" that they missed what was actually happening between him and Tripplehorn. He said the pair "took great pains to hide" the relationship from the rest of the cast and crew. According to the memoir, the two spent many hours together away from set, talking and getting to know one another.

Basic Instinct, directed by Paul Verhoeven, was filmed in San Francisco and starred Douglas as a detective investigating a murder suspect played by Stone, with Tripplehorn playing a police psychologist. Douglas wrote that he was still married to Diandra Luker at the time, with whom he had a son, Cameron, and that Tripplehorn, who was 19 years younger than him, was initially "unwilling to get involved" with a married man. He said he told her that he and Luker had formally separated, were both seeing other people and knew their marriage was over. Tripplehorn went on to star in Waterworld.

Douglas wrote that the "genuine passion" of the brief affair was reflected in the pair's on-screen chemistry, adding that he was "crazy about her" at the time. He said he was nonetheless aware that beginning another serious relationship so soon after nearly two decades of marriage would have been unwise. One outlet reported that Tripplehorn was pictured in public with her husband following the publication of Douglas's claims.