Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones on a Break

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones Image by Getty Images

By Anne Cohen August 28, 2013

More than a decade after they walked down the aisle, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones have announced that they are taking a break.

“Catherine and Michael are taking some time apart to evaluate and work on their marriage,” the couple’s rep told Us Weekly.

The family has had their share of stressful times: Three years ago, Douglas was diagnosed with stage IV throat cancer and underwent chemotherapy and radiation. In April 2011, Zeta-Jones announced she was seeking treatment for bipolar II disorder.

“It puts everything into perspective on a personal and professional level. I’m not so consumed about what people think or say like I used to be,” Zeta Jones told Stylist magazine last year. “These things are sent to try us, and we do sit back and go, ‘Wow, we got through that,’ and, ‘Oof, we dodged that huge bullet.’ I guess it does make you stronger because you have some ammunition to be prepared for something else that’s going to side swipe you, because it really did side swipe us.”

The couple, who have been together since 1999, were married at the Plaza Hotel on November 18, 2000. They have two children together, Dylan, 13, and Carys, 10.

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO