Michael Douglas Details Smuggling Drugs to Pay for College

Michelle Stein October 10, 2026, 11:30 am

What To Know

Michael Douglas revealed he smuggled marijuana in suitcases between the East and West Coasts to pay for college after his father, Kirk Douglas, cut him off financially.
He shared this story during an interview on Real Time With Bill Maher while promoting his new memoir, One Helluva Ride.
Douglas also addressed the “nepo baby” label.

Michael Douglas detailed smuggling drugs to pay for college when his famous father, Kirk Douglas, cut him off financially.

On the Friday, October 9 episode of Real Time With Bill Maher, Douglas, 82, appeared as a guest to promote his new memoir One Helluva Ride.

“I think you and I share something in common about getting through college together,” Douglas pointed out.

To that, Maher acknowledged, “What it is that we discovered is that when you buy pot in one place and sell it in a different place, the difference in those two amounts can be very good for living your life.”

“Especially between East Coast and West Coast,” Douglas added.

When Maher mentioned that Douglas “took actual suitcases, entire suitcases” of pot “on a plane,” the Romancing the Stone actor explained why he did so.

“What happened, when I turned 21, Dad wrote me a check — $10,000 — he said, ‘Great son, you’re on your own,'” Douglas recalled. “I said, ‘Well, Dad, this is wonderful, but I’ve got a couple of years of tuition left in school…’”

Douglas later came clean to his father why he never asked for more money after that.

“One time I said, ‘Dad, you remember one Christmas you bought me two beautiful Italian soft leather suitcases?'” he recalled. “Well, I found out that each one of those suitcases could hold 22 kilos of marijuana.’ I would go back east to see my mom with the clothes on my back and two suitcases. This was called BD: before dogs.”

Elsewhere in the Real Time interview, Maher praised Douglas for working normal jobs — including a stint at a Mobil gas station at 20 — despite being a “nepo baby.” The Fatal Attraction star then made a valid point.

Michael Douglas Confirms Kathleen Turner Romance After 40 Years of Denial

“With this ‘nepo baby’ thing, doesn’t every single business, doesn’t a father or a mother want their son or daughter to go into the business?” he asked. “They have a sign that says ‘so and so and sons,’ so why pick on show business?”

One Helluva Ride was released on October 6.

Real Time With Bill Maher, Fridays at 10/9c, HBO