Douglas gushed that during production of the film, “Kathleen and I fell hard for each other and began a relationship.”
“It wasn’t a fly-by-night affair; it grew naturally from how closely we were working together, how much pressure we were under, how much we respected and cared for one another, and how attracted we were to each other.”
He added, “Like every other guy in the world at the time, I was knocked sideways by Kathleen.”
Douglas noted how their romance grew organically and that the two “never hit a rough spot.”
“We found each other first as friends, then as co-stars, and finally as lovers. Following an exhausting day of shooting in the jungle, we’d go out and have a meal, or head out with the group, and afterward I would sneak into her hotel room after everybody was asleep,” he shared.
Douglas said it was a different time, and they were able to move more freely while keeping the romance under wraps from even director Robert Zemeckis and their co-star Danny DeVito, who were both “unaware” of the affair.
Referring to their characters, adventurer Jack Colton and romance novelist Joan Wilder, Douglas explained, “There were no cameras in elevators, no assistants using cell phones to take pictures. As Jack and Joan were falling in love, Kathleen and I were keeping the chemistry alive. We kept our involvement hidden.”