'I am not greedy,' says Michael Douglas' ex wife as she recalls the moment he slammed down phone on her in $45m battle

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 16:12 EDT, 17 March 2011

She has been slammed as a ruthless gold digger for going after her ex-husband's money despite having received a multi-million dollar divorce settlement.

But Diandra Douglas has insisted that she is 'not greedy' for suing Michael Douglas for a share of profits from his recent movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.

The petition was filed just weeks before Michael's throat cancer diagnosis. 

'I'm not greedy': Dianda Douglas has giving her first in-depth interview to Harper's Bazaar since taking her ex-husband Michael Douglas to court for a share of the takings of Wall- Street: Money Never Sleeps

Diandra claims that Michael's slammed the phone down on her in disgust when she tried to withdraw the petition after learning of his stage IV prognosis.

In her first in-depth interview since taking Michael to court, Diandra opens up in the April issue of Harper's Bazaar.

'I am not a greedy person by nature', she said. 'I ask myself every night if I should walk away'.

Her ex-husband's character Gordon Gekko in the 1987 movie Wall Street, coined the phrase: 'Greed is good'.

However, the 54-year-old is dismissing claims that she was out of line for going out to court to try and get money from what she says is the sequel to the first Wall Street movie, which per her divorce settlement, would entitle her to a share of Michael's earnings.

Happier times: Michael and Diandra (pictured in 1990) were married for 23 years and divorced in 2000

Michael's legal camp say it is a totally different venture and she is not entitled to any money from the second movie.

Diandra emphasised that she did not know Michael was suffering from cancer when she first launched her bid last June.

'Michael didn't know he was ill, I didn't know he was ill and the gods didn't know he was ill', Diandra said. 'I am not going after sick people for things that don't belong to me'.

Diandra said she tried to have the case adjourned when she found out Michael was very ill in August but his legal team wanted to push forward with the case.

'Because we felt that it was a frivolous lawsuit and Michael did not need to have any further worries', Marilyn Chinitz said of why they wanted to go ahead with the legal challenge.

Troubled child: Their son Cameron, 32, is currently serving five years in prison for dealing drugs

'I thought it was better to proceed to get this matter adjudicated', Michael's lawyer said.

When Diandra called Michael to say that she 'was terribly sorry he was ill' - he hung up on her, she claims.

'He doesn't recall hanging up on her', Ms Chinitz said. 'He might have addressed her in an abrupt manner. Michael just limits his contact with her only to the issue of their son'.

To add to Douglas' woes, her 32-year-old son Cameron with Michael was sent to federal prison for five years for dealing methamphetamine and plead guilty to the charge last January. He had also battled an addiction to heroin but is clean now thanks to his stay in prison.

Diandra said she feels like she has been portrayed as a bad person by the press: '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'.

'One cannot live one's life based on the court of public opinion' Diandra says of other's views she should not be pursuing this case and now that Michael is in remission she is pressing ahead with her claim.

Her lawyer Nancy Chemtob believes that Diandra is entitled to part of Michael's earnings from the 2nd Wall Street movie.

'It's nothing more than a business issue. Obviously the other side feels that it's worth it, otherwise they would honour the agreement. My legal counsel says, "This is something you are entitled to"'.

The complaint was dismissed by a New York judge in November last year who ruled the issue should go before a California court as that is where the couple divorced 11 years ago.

However, Diandra has filed a notice of appeal and a motion to have her case heard again in New York.

Although there were no plans for Money Never Sleeps at the time of the Douglases' divorce, Diandra said: 'I thought, "You never know, but that might be a nest egg that I might need one day for my kids or my family or my life".

When asked if she still has feelings for her former husband, Diandra said sighing: 'I loved Michael very much when I married him. And I don’t think love ever really disappears.'

Moved on: Michael married Catherine Zeta Jones in 2000 and they have two children together, Dylan, 10 and seven-year-old Carys

'It might metamorphose, [but] I certainly don’t think that hate is the right recipe.'

She denies being upset by Michael's new family with Catherine Zeta-Jones and their two children, Dylan, 10 and seven-year-old Carys.

Although she has never met Catherine or their children, they still share a vacation home on Majorca as per the divorce settlement.

'How I’ve managed to keep my sanity through that, I’ll never know,' she says. 'I’m really happy that he is madly in love and has two lovely children,' she insists.

Diandra's love life and family life has also been a roller-coaster the past ten years.

She is mother to seven-year-old twin boys Hudson and Hawk who she had via a gestational carrier with her then fiancé Zach Hampton Bacon III. She shares custody with the hedge fund manager.

She also adopted a Kazakh little girl Imara who is six-years-old. Her boyfriend Paulo Oliveira is a frequent visitor to her Upper East Side townhouse home.

Diandra also had a very quick marriage to entrepreneur and environmental activist Michael Klein who she married in 2005.

But the mother-of-four has also suffered a financial blow which she says is partly the reason why she went after Michael to get a share of the Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps takings.

Kenneth Starr, who was the business manager for many other celebrities, and has plead guilty to fraud, was also at the helm of Diandra's monetary affairs.

She made bad investments and was exposed to Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. The fraudster is currently serving 150 years in jail for his illegal dealings.

The sale of Diandra's $29million mansion in Montecito, California fell through last year but she is now hiring it out for events until she gets a buyer.

Actress Hilary Duff and Mike Comrie used the mansion for their wedding last August.

'Because of the type of human being I aspire to be, if Starr & Company hadn't happened and Madoff hadn't happened, and if a lot of other things hadn't happened, to tell you the honest truth, I really believe I would have walked away.'

Michael and Diandra met when she was just 19-years-old and he was 32.  The actor proposed after just two weeks and they married six weeks later.  Their son Cameron was born a year after they wed.

They had a life of glamour and luxury living in Los Angeles during the prime of Michael's career and later moved to New York.

Diandra said she wants to protect her three younger children from falling into the same pitfalls as their older brother but says: 'They have a different father, so that's one big difference'.

And although she has been through a turbulent few years says the experience has shown her who her true friends which is a gift in and of itself.

'As horrible a this whole experience has been, I wouldn't change it', she surmised.