Diandra Douglas, ex-wife of Oscar-winning actor and cancer survivor Michael Douglas, shocked legal experts and divorce lawyers in Pasadena when she took her ex back to court 13 years after their divorce was settled. Last August, Diandra and her lawyers called foul on the 66-year-old for withholding earnings he took in from the Wall Street sequel released last year. The paychecks for the film, Diandra claimed, were in violation of the couple's 1998 agreement which entitles her to a 50 percent cut from the royalties connected with Wall Street.
Now after months of enduring heartless "gold digger" insults, Diandra is speaking out.
"I am not a greedy person by nature," Diandra tells Harper's Bazaar in the latest issue on newsstand now. She says she did not know that Michael Douglas had cancer at the time of the lawsuit. "Michael didn't know he was ill, I didn't know he was ill, and the gods didn't know he was ill," she says. "I am not into going after sick people for things that don't belong to me."
She also says she wasn't prepared for the attention the lawsuit garnered online and in the media. Diandra soon found herself being portrayed as a selfish witch trying to take money from a dying man.
"It's hurtful. I'm not made of cement. I'm a human being. I didn't think it would turn into this huge media circus. That was not my intent," she says.
In November, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper dismissed the case, saying it had no place in a New York court. Diandra Douglas is currently pursuing the case in California where the couple was divorced.
Michael and Diandra Douglas were married in 1977 and had a son, Cameron Douglas, in 1978. Diandra filed for divorce in 1997 and was initially awarded a $45 million settlement.