Catherine Zeta-Jones already has an Oscar and Tony Award under her belt, but at 55, this is the most satisfying time in her career. 

While her husband, Michael Douglas, is relishing in his retirement era, Zeta-Jones is flourishing — it’s her time to shine. “It’s a new chapter,” she explained to The Times in an Aug. 16 interview. It’s what I have been craving. Variety.”

Besides her delicious role as Morticia Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday, she’s working on an indie film, The Gallerist, with Natalie Portman, and has a juicy role as a former crime boss turned art dealer in the Amazon series, Kill Jackie. 

Now that she’s the star in the family as Douglas takes a backseat from fame, Zeta-Jones still cherishes the bond they share. “We don’t listen to the crap that is written about us, that’s the main thing. And we respect our space, we’re independent spirits,” she said. “We are very similar; we were born on the same day, 25 years apart. We’re not afraid to be verbal, to express ourselves. I wear everything on my sleeve, and so does he, which is good.”

Douglas is fine with his wife taking the reins now that he’s 80 and ready to relax a bit. 

“I have not worked since 2022 purposefully because I realized I had to stop,” he said at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic in early July, via Variety. “I had been working pretty hard for almost 60 years, and I did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on the set. I have no real intentions of going back. I say I’m not retired because if something special came up, I’d go back, but otherwise, no.” 

He says he’s “happy to play the wife” in his marriage to Zeta-Jones as she embraces the new opportunities coming her way in this season of life. It’s a give-and-take balancethat has created a successful marriage for over two decades.

Zeta-Jones and Douglas have been married for 25 years after meeting in 1998. They share two children: son Dylan, 25, and daughter Carys, 22. Douglas is also the father of son Cameron, 46, whom he shares with his first wife, Diandra Luker.

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