Movie stars rarely open up about their sex lives to the media, so when one does, it really is a jaw-dropping moment.
And if any actor was going to make the sensational claim that oral sex gave them cancer, it would have to be Michael Douglas, a star whose name was a byword for dangerous movie sex throughout the Eighties and Nineties.
Asked by The Guardian if he blamed his throat cancer to a lifetime of drinking and smoking, the star of Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction was remarkably frank:
“No. Because without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV [human papillomavirus], which actually comes about from cunnilingus.
“I did worry if the stress caused by my son’s incarceration didn’t help trigger it. But yeah, it’s a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer. And if you have it, cunnilingus is also the best cure for it.”
Douglas, 68, who is married to Catherine Zeta-Jones, found out he had oral cancer three years ago but he is now working towards a full recovery.
HPV is a sexually transmitted virus best known as a cause of cervical and anal cancer and genital warts. Experts believe it is responsible for an increasing number of oral cancers.
However, doctors are not so sure about Douglas’s claim that cunnilingus can also help cure the condition. Mahesh Kumar, a leading head and neck surgeon in London, told The Guardian: “Maybe he thinks that more exposure to the virus will boost his immune system. But medically, that just doesn’t make sense.”
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