After being married for 21 years, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas are one of Hollywood's long-standing couples. The pair made have made headlines for their 25-year age gap, their expensive wedding, and for welcoming two children together, Carys and Dylan Douglas. (Douglas also has another son, Cameron Douglas, 42, from his first marriage.) Well, time flies, because Carys and Dylan are now 17 years old and 20 years old, respectively.
In an interview with Today, Zeta-Jones noted that she and her husband were "early empty nesters" since Dylan had gone off to college and Carys was in boarding school. But, she explained that they were all brought back together due to the pandemic.
Whether they're forced to quarantine together or not, it's clear that this family is close. Read on to see what Carys and Dylan are up to these days, and to see what their relationship with their famous parents is like. And for more kids growing up in the spotlight, See What Julia Roberts' 3 Kids Look Like as Teenagers.
Carys is interested in the family business.
Town & CountryCarys is still only 17, so there's plenty of time for her to figure out her passions and build a career. However, she said in a 2018 interview with Town & Country that she is interested in becoming an actor like her parents. "When I was younger I didn’t like the idea of having this name attached to me, this kind of 'Douglas dynasty' stuff," said the teen, whose grandfather was film star Kirk Douglas. "I think what bothers me the most is that people think I don't work hard for it, that I don’t need to work hard for it. That anything I do gets handed to me. When, honestly, I feel like it’s the opposite. I feel I need to constantly prove myself to people—that I am not just my parents' daughter."
Carys appeared on the cover of the magazine with her mother, and it's not the only time they collaborated. They also appeared together on the cover of Vanity Fair Spain, and worked together in an ad for Fendi. She's also been spotted with her mom at fashion shows.
Read about another kid following in her mom's footsteps in Christie Brinkley's 22-Year-Old Daughter Looks Exactly Like Her.
Dylan is in college and has done a little acting.
Dylan Douglas/InstagramDylan attends Brown University, but had to return home last year due to the pandemic. "They descended back into our home and it was just wonderful," Zeta-Jones told Today in July 2020. "Breakfast, lunch and dinner all together, and supposedly my son's friends told [him] we have fared much better than a lot of his friends' families have."
Dylan, who is also interested in acting, has had one TV role so far. He voiced the character Russell on an episode of the animated series Phineas and Ferb.
For more on celebrity kids, check out See What Michael Jackson's Three Kids Look Like All Grown Up.
The siblings are close friends.
Carys Douglas/InstagramCarys and Dylan both have public Instagram accounts and have posted many photos of themselves together. On Dylan's 20th birthday, Carys shared a photo of them hugging and wrote, "The most incredible brother and best friend I could ask for. I thank you for everything and love you more than you will ever know. I am the luckiest sister!"
And, for Carys' birthday in April of last year, Dylan posted a photo of them as children and captioned it, "It’s your birthday and the world is ending!!!! Don’t worry I’ll protect you!" He added of the silly photo that shows him holding her back from something, "Me trying to keep you social distancing."
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They both share their love for their parents on social media, too.
Dylan Douglas/InstagramZeta-Jones and Douglas have the same birthday—Sep. 25—but 25 years apart. For their birthday in 2019, Carys wrote on Instagram, "happy birthday to my favorite people. thank you for being my biggest inspirations. i love you more than you know."
That same year, Dylan wrote in his own post, "Happy birthday to my wonderful parents @catherinezetajones and @michaelkirkdouglas . 50 and 75 years young! I love you with all my heart!"
For more famous pairs with big age differences, check out 27 Celebrity Couples With Huge Age Gaps.
Zeta-Jones is proud of one aspect of her parenting in particular.
Catherine Zeta-Jones/Instagram"What I instilled in my kids, and I'm very, very proud of it, is manners," Zeta-Jones said in the Town & Country interview. "There’s nothing worse than a privileged kid without manners. I drilled it into them like boot camp. The teenage years... [Carys] knows she cannot roll her eyes at me, or huff and puff around me. I never did it to my mother, and she’s not doing it to me."
The actor is also glad that she "shielded" her kids from fame. The kids spent their young childhood in Bermuda, and Carys told Town & Country she didn't even realize her dad was an actor.
"They've kinda been removed from the crazy world of Hollywood or even the crazy world of Manhattan,” Zeta-Jones said in a 2018 interview with Entertainment Tonight. "The teenagers here in Manhattan, there's a maturity that comes too quick I think. We've kind of shielded them away, but they're incredibly mature for their tender years. They get it, and that's just a thing [where] I think that I just got lucky."
To read more about celeb families, check out 25 Celebrity Kids Who Look Just Like Their Parents.
