Michael Douglas starts treatment for ‘stage four’ throat cancer

Douglas, 65, said a biopsy had revealed he has “stage four cancer”. The Wall Street actor was diagnosed three weeks ago, and said he has completed the first week of two months of radiation and chemotherapy.

He said he is hopeful of recovery, with an 80% chance of healing, as the cancer remained above the neck, which means that "expectations are good", he said.

Douglas, who has two young children with wife Catherine Zeta Jones, admitted to complaining of a sore throat throughout the summer, and had some tests to make sure everything was clear, but nothing abnormal was revealed.

Later in the summer, a biopsy revealed the actor had advanced throat cancer. He said he felt frustrated doctors had not found anything earlier "because I was on it early in the summer and started complaining about something, but they couldn't see it then".

Last week, news emerged that Douglas’s ex-wife, Diandra Douglas, demanded half his earnings from the upcoming Wall Street film. In their divorce settlement in 2000, she was granted a share in earnings of the actor’s work while they were still together.

She now wants earnings from his new movie because he is reprising the role of Gordon Gekko from the 1987 original movie.