He then made an even more revealing admission.
“In fact, I was ready to officially leave my wife for Jeanne. I was crazy about her.”
Despite those feelings, Douglas ultimately decided not to immediately end one long marriage and jump directly into another serious relationship.
After nearly two decades with Luker, he later concluded that doing so would have been “the worst thing” he could have done at that stage of his life.
The relationship with Tripplehorn eventually ended when production on *Basic Instinct* came to a close.
Douglas wrote:
“My relationship with Jeanne lasted through production, then we went our separate ways.”
Despite the breakup, he spoke warmly about her in his memoir, describing Tripplehorn as “an amazing actress and a truly terrific woman.”
The revelation became especially striking because Tripplehorn was photographed in Los Angeles on the same Tuesday Douglas’ memoir was released.
Now 63, she was seen casually stepping out for coffee alongside her husband, actor Leland Orser.
Tripplehorn wore a simple black T-shirt with fitted jeans and sunglasses, while her dark hair was pulled into a low bun.
It was an ordinary outing—made far more noteworthy by the fact that a hidden chapter of her life from more than three decades earlier had just become public.
Tripplehorn and Orser met while working on the 1998 dark comedy *Very Bad Things*, roughly six years after her relationship with Douglas had ended.
They married in 2000 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tripplehorn’s hometown.
Two years later, the couple welcomed their son, August.
Their marriage has lasted for more than two decades.
Douglas, meanwhile, finalized his divorce from Luker in 1995.
He later married Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2000, and they went on to have two children together, Dylan and Carys.
Douglas also revealed that being secretly involved with Tripplehorn made filming some of their intimate scenes in *Basic Instinct* unexpectedly uncomfortable.
He recalled that Tripplehorn became so nervous during one sequence that she began laughing uncontrollably.
Eventually, she regained her composure and they completed the scene.
Douglas noted that intimacy coordinators did not exist on movie sets at the time, so the actors carefully discussed and rehearsed what they planned to do beforehand.
He said they agreed on every movement and continued checking in with one another while filming.
After one particularly intense sequence, Douglas remembered making sure Tripplehorn was all right.
Despite their brief romance, he says there was relatively little contact between them in the years that followed.
That made his decision to include their relationship in the memoir even more significant.
Before publishing the story, however, Douglas said he contacted Tripplehorn directly and asked whether she was comfortable with him discussing their past.
“She said yes.”
Douglas has explained that the people included in his memoir were individuals who played meaningful roles in his life, and he apparently wanted Tripplehorn to have a say before their private history became public.
But she was not the only former co-star connected to a long-hidden romance.
Douglas also confirmed in *One Helluva Ride* that he had been involved with Kathleen Turner while filming the 1984 adventure hit *Romancing the Stone*.
At the time, Douglas was still married to Luker, while Turner was dating real-estate executive Jay Weiss.
Douglas recalled that he and Turner initially became close as friends while shooting the film in Mexico.
Eventually, however, the relationship reportedly became romantic.
He described secretly visiting Turner’s hotel room after exhausting filming days, once other members of the production had gone to bed.
The affair was concealed from people working on the movie, including co-star Danny DeVito and director Robert Zemeckis.
According to Douglas, Luker eventually became suspicious.
She traveled to Mexico with their young son, Cameron, and her arrival effectively brought the relationship between Douglas and Turner to an end.
Despite what happened, Douglas and Turner maintained a close professional relationship.
They reunited for *The Jewel of the Nile* in 1985 and later starred together again in *The War of the Roses* in 1989.
For decades, however, they publicly denied that anything romantic had happened between them.
Douglas now says that version of events was deliberately maintained in an effort to protect his wife and son at the time.
Turner, now 72, responded to Douglas finally making the story public with considerably less drama than some readers might have expected.
In a statement to *People*, she said:
“Good heavens, what a fuss about something 40 years ago! I love Michael, and I look forward to enjoying the book.”
Her relaxed reaction highlighted just how much time has passed since the events Douglas is now revisiting.
His memoir reportedly covers much more than romantic relationships.
He also reflects on growing up as the son of Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas, his own career, his years of drug use, family relationships, and the complicated realities behind decades of fame.
Still, the *Basic Instinct* revelation may be one of the book’s most unexpected stories.
For more than 30 years, the chemistry audiences remembered was between Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone.
But according to Douglas, another romance was quietly unfolding just outside the spotlight.
Jeanne Tripplehorn was the woman he says he fell deeply for.
Their relationship lasted only through production, and both eventually moved on to entirely different lives.
Today, Tripplehorn has been married to Leland Orser for more than two decades, while Douglas remains married to Catherine Zeta-Jones.
And after remaining private for more than three decades, their brief relationship has finally become part of Hollywood history.
Perhaps the most striking image following the revelation is also the simplest: Tripplehorn walking through Los Angeles beside the husband she met years after *Basic Instinct*, coffee in hand, while a secret from another lifetime suddenly became public.