Michael Douglas made five break-up phone calls in one day after Catherine Zeta-Jones told him she would only date him if he stopped seeing other women.

The 82-year-old Wall Street star has recalled the extraordinary beginning of his relationship with Catherine, 57, in his new memoir, One Helluva Ride.

Michael was separated from his first wife, Diandra Douglas, 70, and dating five women when he began pursuing Catherine after being captivated by her performance in The Mask of Zorro.

Catherine, however, quickly made clear she would not become the sixth woman in his romantic life.

Michael writes: "She told me she understood that I was a single guy who'd come out of a long marriage, but she would only be monogamous.

"'I'm not interested in dating you if you're dating other people. You can either continue with them or end it and be with me.'"

Michael said his response required some immediate administration.

He writes: "I told her wait here I have to make five quick calls. 'Five? You have to make five calls?'"

Michael had separated from Diandra in 1995 following a marriage that began in the late 1970s.

He said the five women he was subsequently seeing were aware of his circumstances.

He writes: "Just after my marriage, I had been seeing five other women. They knew I was recently separated and in the process of getting a divorce.

"I made sure they all lived in different cities, which felt like a respectful way to be non-monogamous."

Michael said none of the relationships had involved a demand for exclusivity.

He writes: "None of them asked for a commitment or even asked what else I was up to. I am sure they were seeing other people, too."

But Catherine's intervention prompted him to end all five relationships.

Michael writes: "That day, I called each one to say I met somebody and would no longer be able to continue seeing them. They all took it well."

Michael had first become aware of Catherine after seeing her as Elena Montero in the 1998 adventure film The Mask of Zorro, in which she starred alongside Antonio Banderas, 66, and Anthony Hopkins, 88.

He then encountered Catherine at the Deauville American Film Festival in France while promoting his thriller A Perfect Murder. Michael asked his publicist to arrange drinks with the Welsh actor.

He writes: "She was smart, funny, unpretentious, and, yes, breathtakingly beautiful. She just seemed so confident and self-assured, too."

Michael later had dinner with Catherine, Antonio and Antonio's then-wife Melanie Griffith, 69.

By the end of the evening, Michael admitted he was "smashed" and accompanied Catherine to the hotel elevator.

He told her: "I'm going to be the father of your children."

Michael writes: "It wasn't a cheap pick-up line. It was the truth."

The couple married in New York in November 2000 and have two children, Dylan Douglas, 26, and Carys Douglas, 23. Michael also has Cameron Douglas, 47, from his marriage to Diandra.

Michael's memoir has put his romantic history back in the headlines this week, including his disclosure he had an affair with Kathleen Turner, 72, while they were making the 1984 adventure Romancing the Stone in Mexico.

The pair had denied for decades their celebrated on-screen chemistry had developed into a romance.

Michael and Kathleen subsequently appeared together in The Jewel of the Nile and The War of the Roses, and reunited decades later in Netflix comedy The Kominsky Method.

Michael said he obtained Kathleen's permission before including details of their relationship in his memoir.

The book also discusses Michael's relationship with Jeanne Tripplehorn, 63, his co-star in the 1992 erotic thriller Basic Instinct.

Michael played detective Nick Curran opposite Sharon Stone, 68, in one of the biggest and most controversial films of his career.

The actor's relationship with Catherine has also faced difficulties.

In a new interview with Diane Sawyer, 80, broadcast this week on Good Morning America, Michael discussed the period in 2013 when the couple temporarily separated before reconciling.

The actor told People their relationship has developed into something deeper during their more than quarter of a century of marriage.

He said: "There's just an unknown at a certain point over time.

"It goes beyond being attracted to somebody in this matter. It's just an unknown bond of being close and… a mutual respect."

Michael's disclosures come as One Helluva Ride generates a series of headlines about his private life and six-decade career.

He has also revealed his affair with Kathleen and spoken about growing up in the shadow of his father, Spartacus star Kirk Douglas, while saying this week that the "nepo baby" label applied to children of famous performers "p***** me off".

Michael first became widely known as Inspector Steve Keller in The Streets of San Francisco before producing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which won the Academy Award for best picture.

He later became one of Hollywood's biggest stars through Romancing the Stone, Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct and The American President, and won the best actor Oscar for playing ruthless financier Gordon Gekko in Wall Street.

One Helluva Ride, which was released this week, also covers Michael's experiences with fame, family, addiction and relationships as well as his work on films including Behind the Candelabra and his decades in Hollywood.