The Seduction Secrets of Catherine Zeta-Jones
Source: Harper's Bazaar December 2004
By: Nancy Collins
Very few woman radiate chic, modern-day sex appeal like this Oscar-winning actress. Catherine Zeta-Jones reveals the key to her passionate marriage to Michael Douglas, the art of flirting and why nothing is more romantic than a great big rockSix years and two babies later, Catherine Zeta-Jones is proud to admit that she is still seducing Michael Douglas. "I still flirt with my husband because you always have to nurture and protect a marriage," she laughs, her eyes flashing with the knowingness of a big-timer in the Romance Department. "Children only make a marriage stronger. You think you can't love a man more, and then you see him with your kids and feel love on a whole different hemisphere." She pauses. "Sometimes I can't believe how much I love Michael as a man, as a father with our private little family. But we still have to protect our privacy. We're not parents who have the children in our bed. We put them to bed every night, but then we're not listening at the door, hoping they wake up and need us. As a result, my children aren't needy. We'll drop them off with my parents in Wales for a week and gon on a boat trip or play golf ... just have fun" -a lesson learned from her own parents, who every Saturday night left Catherine and her two brothers overnight with their grandmother "so they could go out partying. At some point, after all, my little babies are going to run out of the nest, and I don't want to look at Michael and say, 'Hi, remember us?'"
That is hardly likely to happen, since Michael Douglas definitely does his own part to keep things exciting, starting with their first meeting, at the Deauville Film Festical in 1998, when he flirtatiously said, "I want to father your children" -a pronouncement she followed up by leading him through a proper nine-month courtship, which she "planned because I wanted to know who he was before I took any ... advances. And it was wonderful, like a sexual dance, only making us want each other more. And I;m happy to say that after we stopped courting, it hasn't gone away. It's still there" -an attraction Douglas shrewdly memorializes in stone, especially diamonds. "Call me old-fashioned, but nothing says 'I love you' like a big old rock," Catherine laughs. "Jewerly represents special moments in your life-and only my husband buys it for me," she says, fingering the two tiny platinum baby shoes dangling from the chain around her neck , as well as the delicate solitaire emerald, a birthday gift, at her throat.
She pauses, glancing out the windows of her temporary home in Mexico, where she is filming the sequel to The Mask of Zorro. "When we were on location for Ocean's Twelve [the sequel to Ocean's Eleven], Brad Pitt-a freak of nature: so handsome, no ego, just a sweet, great guy-asked what he should get Jennifer for their anniversary, and I said, 'A beautiful ruby.' But he'd bought her jewerly before, and he said, 'Don't girls ever get bored with jewels?' I said, 'No!'" When it comes to interacting with her other tightly knit Ocean's co-stars, including George Clooney & Matt Damon, "I was one of the guys, playing poker, having a few drinks. I am not a prissy person."
Which doesn't mean this isn't a gal crazy about all the accoutrements of womenhood: bags, shoes (namely Christian Louboutin) and clothes, especially strapless dresses-her favorite look-from European designers like Versace. "Before Gianni died, he saw my picture in a newspaper and told Donatella he wanted to dress me; so she started giving me things when I was completely unknown in America." As for personal style, the actress is defiantly anti-tattoo, anti-hip. "Wearing things like asymmetrical Japanese designs just makes me look like a communist," she chuckles, glancing at the long black Christian Lacroix lace skirt she has casually paired today with a leotard top. "My mother says, 'A woman should never, wear anything she can't afford to lose,' which is why I didn't bring my diamonds to Mexico."
If anything, Mexico has been a workout, leaving the acress looking her all time thinnest, thanks to the rigors of "night shoots and sword fights" weighted down by "a corset, two petticoats and a big ol' dress." And by the way, she adds, "this competition to lose baby weight so fast is ridiculous," she says of the 50 pounds she gained during both her pregnancies. "With each baby, it took me about a year to drop it."
Still, even days away from delivery, Catherine always looked dazzling on the red carpet, glamour being something she learned at her mother's face, if not knee. "My mother, who uses electric rollers once or twice a day, doesn't take out the garbage without hair and makeup. She used to say to me, 'Go put on rouge. You look plae,' never, 'You're not allowed to wear makeup.' In fact, I can't remember when I didn't. Nor was I told what I couldn't wear, except miniskirts up to my crotch. My mother, being a seamstress, whipped up clothes from pictures I found in magazines.
'Glamour is putting beautiful things together and wearing them naturally," she continues. "People think I'm glamourous because of my lifestyle. Being married to Michael, you see me doing things most 35-year-olds probably don't-meeting presidents, the Oscars, the yachts, having dinner with Kofi Annan. I love all that, but it's frustrating beung put into this 'glamour' box. I'm an actor and love dressing up, but I'm also a mother who lives in practical clothes. In fact, I can't imagine myself not being married, not having children," she says, referring to 4-year-old Dylan and 1-year-old Carys, who are scheduled to arrive the following day with their father, now that their mother has finished a month of night shooting. "It's the longest stretch without my kids, and I miss them so very much. When I finish Zorro, I'm taking time off just to be a wife and mother while Michael makes a movie."
Returning to seduction, or rather its definition, Catherine concedes that geography may be destiny. "In America, there's a preppiness to women," she says, "while European women [among her favorites: Brigitte Bardot, Anna Magnani, Claudia Cardinale and Audrey Hepburn] are brought up culturally with the notion of seduction. I saw nudity on the beach, in movies on TV. And raised around boys, I never had a chance to be self-conscious, a prude. My mother would say, 'Get your swimsuit on-no hiding behing towels. Stip off and go!' Today, probably because of my dancing background [Catherine began studying dance at age four], I'm not embarrased about my body; I always walk around naked."
And though she didn't have a "serious" boyfriend until she was 20, she always loved the game. "When I lived in Paris [in 1989 and 1990], all I wanted to do was sit in outdoor cafés, drink coffee, speak French and flirt, which is just the greatest thing. Everyone wants her daughter to be strong and have interesting work, but you lose your femininity when you have a ball-buster exterior instead of a smile that says, 'I'm smart and pretty cute, too.' Being able to enjoy being a woman-and showing that you do-is so powerful. My mother always told me to make the most of myself. It's very seductive to see a very proud woman."
And if Catherine Zeta-Jones has anything to say about it, Carys Douglas will grow up to be just that. "She's a very, very strong little child, this one," she says with awe. "But I hope she also turns out to be girlie-loving shoes, bags, belts and dresses. Can you imagine if Carys is into motorbikes, as opposed to makeup?" she muses, shaking her long, dark mane back and forth at the mere thought of such a predicament. "Fortunately," the actress suddenly adds, brightening, "she already likes my jewerly. And I say, 'Great, darling, because one day this is all going to be yours."