Michael Douglas denies sexual harassment allegations

WASHINGTON: Oscar-winning actor and a Hollywood veteran Michael Douglas has preemptively denied allegations of sexual misconduct in front of a female employee and blackballed her from Hollywood.

According to the Deadline, the 73-year-old star is reportedly responding preemptively to a piece by The Hollywood Reporter that hasn't yet been published. He said that the publication was all set to do a story on him, chronicling alleged misdeeds 32 years ago.

The accuser worked for Douglas` production company in New York, the ‘Wall Street’ star said.

When asked why he's coming forward to defend himself against a story that has not yet come to light, he said, “I felt the need to get ahead of this. It pertains to me but I’m also getting a sense of how it reflects in our culture, and what is going on today.”

While talking about the allegations, he went on to say, “She claims that, One, I used colourful language in front of her, not at her, but that I used colourful language. Two, she claims that in conversations I had in front of her, on the phone, that I spoke raunchily, or dirtily with friends of mine, in private conversations.”

The actor continued, “As far as blackballing her, that was completely untrue. She was a lady who was involved in development at my company, and we just didn’t have a good development record in the time she was there, so I just moved on. I never blackballed her. If people from the industry called me to ask about her, I would have been honest, but I never blackballed her.”

Addressing accusations that he m********ed in front of her, the actor said it's a “complete lie”.

“I don’t know where to begin. This is a complete lie, fabrication, no truth to it whatsoever,” noted Douglas.

The famed star said that he was most hurt about the fact he had to explain the "nightmare" allegations to his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and their two teenage children, Dylan, 17, and Carys, 14.

Douglas explained, “My kids are really upset, has to go to school worrying this is going to be in some article about me, being a sexual harasser. They’re scared and very uncomfortable.”

Till now, no comment has been made by The Hollywood Reporter.