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Michael Douglas says a cult threatened to 'eliminate' him during a dinner party
By Tracy Wright
Published October 15, 2026
Michael Douglas' basic instincts kicked in at the right time and right place.
While chatting on the "Joe Rogan Experience," Douglas, 82, recalled thwarting a near-death experience with a cult.
Douglas explained that the cult tried to "create a cathartic moment, being all together, kind of an emotional moment."
"They invited me for dinner, and then they said, 'Well, with a lady friend,' they said ... 'We've been trying to reach you,'" he recalled.
"We got to dessert, and they said, 'We've been trying to reach you, and you just don't get it. You don't get it. So, you're going to have to be eliminated.'"
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Michael Douglas narrowly avoided a near-death experience with a cult. (NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
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When Rogan asked what it was that Douglas "didn't get," he explained that "they wanted … to join, to give yourself up, to be part of it."
"They were going to whack me," he said. "I remember there was a long silence, and I said, 'Well, you've done it, haven't you?' And they said, 'Yeah,' ... and a big, long pause.
Michael Douglas recalled an encounter with a cult. (Getty Images)
"My girlfriend just started falling apart, peeing in her pants and all that."
Douglas admitted they thought they "were going to get killed," but, instead, he was allowed to simply walk away.
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"Then I said, 'I'm going to leave now,' and they said, 'Yeah, you better.'"
"One Helluva Ride" by Michael Douglas is available now. (Grand Central Publishing)
He said there was a moment when if he made "any sudden movement," he could have easily been killed.
"It's strange," he remembered. "I've never had many experiences, but there's numbness. … Kind of this whole numbness just comes over you, or it did in my case. Just was frozen."
When asked what cult it was, Douglas claimed that it was led by Mel Lyman, noting that he alerted the police after the ordeal.
Douglas also talked to the podcaster about his time living in a commune in Santa Barbara during his "hippie days."
"It was called Mountain Drive, a whole community," Douglas explained. "It was organic. People lived, you know, it wasn't formal."
The Academy Award winner wrote about secret affairs; heavy cocaine and alcohol use; a "rehab or divorce" ultimatum from his first wife, Diandra; and the painful family struggles that followed him from childhood into fatherhood in his new memoir, "One Helluva Ride."
Douglas described his father, Hollywood icon Kirk Douglas, as a powerful but volatile presence.
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"Kirk Douglas was my father, a flawed man with a ferocious temper and a burning ambition," he wrote.
Michael Douglas is the son of the late acting legend Kirk Douglas. (Getty Images)
Douglas admitted that his father’s behavior left him and brother Joel frightened. He recalled Kirk saying, "I yell and scream because I care," and Douglas wrote that Joel endured more of the abuse.
The "Wall Street" star also described the darkest years of his son Cameron’s addiction.
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"When he was really strung out in New York, I decided I was going to kidnap him and force him into rehab," he wrote.
Douglas said Cameron was addicted to cocaine and heroin, dealt methamphetamine and carried a Glock for protection. During one incident, Cameron flashed the weapon at a drugstore and was nearly shot by police.
Cameron Douglas struggled with addiction issues for years. (Variety via Getty Images)
At one point, Douglas says he arranged for two large men to help abduct Cameron and force him into rehab.
"When we came back, I asked to hold the leash. Cam figured it out. He looked at me, like, ‘Dad, how could you?’ Like I had broken his heart. Again."
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Cameron realized what was happening and resisted, so Douglas threw the plan out of the window.
Cameron later served seven years in prison after a federal drug case. Douglas wrote that his son’s heroin relapse behind bars led a judge to add 4½ to his sentence, and Cameron spent two years in solitary confinement.
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Fox News Digital's Christina Dugan Ramirez contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/michael-douglas-says-cult-threatened-eliminate-him-during-dinner-party