MICHAEL Douglas' people are
denying The Guardian's proof that the Hollywood star had blamed his throat
cancer on cunnilingus. But the British newspaper is sticking by their interview
and has even posted an audio clip of the conversation with writer Xan Brooks on
their website, insisting that Douglas was referring to his own cancer being
caused by oral sex.
Michael's spokesman Allen
Burry said the 68-year-old actor—who stars in the just-released biopic of
Liberace, Behind The Candelabra—had discussed the link between oral cancers and
oral sex, among other risk factors, but wasn't referring to his own specific
case.
"Michael did not say
cunnilingus was the cause of his cancer," Burry explains. "He
certainly discussed oral sex in the article, and oral sex is a suspected cause
of certain oral cancers, as the doctors in the article did point out. But he
did not say this was the specific cause of his personal cancer."
In the audio clip, however,
it's obvious that Douglas does say his cancer wasn't a result of hard drinking
and heavy smoking, but was instead caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).
Brooks asks him: "Do
you feel, in hindsight, that you overloaded your system? Overloaded your system
with drugs, smoking, drink?" And Michael replies, "Without wanting to
get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV, which actually comes
about from cunnilingus."
"I did worry if the
stress caused by my son's incarceration didn't help trigger it. (Cameron
Douglas is serving a 10-year prison sentence until 2018 for drug trafficking.)
But yeah, it's a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer. And if you
have it, cunnilingus is also the best cure for it," he added helpfully.
Burry insists that Douglas
was talking in general, not personal terms. "This is not the cause of his
cancer," he reiterates.
But a spokesman for Guardian
News & Media notes that while Burry "has claimed that the actor did
not say in an interview with The Guardian that his particular cancer was caused
by cunnilingus… We have posted the relevant audio and transcript to prove that he
did."
"The Guardian firmly
denies this charge of misrepresentation,” the paper notes online. "Mr
Burry was not present at the (interview); the only two people present were Mr
Douglas and The Guardian writer, Xan Brooks."
Burry adds that he hadn't
sought a correction from The Guardian. "I'm not asking The Guardian to do
anything, I think they did enough already," he says.
Douglas, star of the
now-classic thriller Fatal Attraction, revealed in 2010 that he was battling
with stage-four cancer, but he beat the disease thanks to a gruelling regime of
chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
"I have to check in
regularly—now it's every six months—but I'm more than two years clear," he
told The Guardian. "And with this kind of cancer, 95% of the time it
doesn't come back."
Michael has been applauded
by health experts for speaking out about link between throat cancer and oral
sex. Brian Hill, executive director of America's Oral Cancer Foundation,
praised him to The New York Post, saying, "I'm really quite proud of Michael
saying this. This is not an aberrant sexual behaviour. But the willingness to
talk about this openly can be difficult."
HPV was long known to cause
genital warts and cervical cancer, but recent evidence indicates an increase in
anal and oral cancers as well because of the virus. HPV infection is also the
cause of 99% of cases of cervical cancer, according to studies cited by
Britain's National Health Service.
Source: AFP; Reuters
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