Anne Douglas has passed away at 102 years old.
Anne died at her home in Beverly Hills on Thursday, PEOPLE confirms. Her death comes just over a year after the death of her husband in February 2020 at the age of 103. Anne and Kirk were married for 66 years and shared two sons, Peter and Eric, she was the stepmother of Kirk’s son, actor Michael Douglas.
Following her passing, Michael Douglas, 76, shared an emotional statement. “Anne was more than a stepmother, and never ‘wicked.’ She brought out the best in all of us, especially our father. Dad would never have had the career he did without Anne’s support and partnership,” Michael said in his statement. “Catherine [Zeta-Jones] and I and the children adored her; she will always be in our hearts.”
“My father could never keep a secret. Anne was just the opposite, That’s why I was so moved when I read their co-authored book, Kirk and Anne, in which she talked about her early life in Germany; her war years in occupied Paris; and her career before she met my father,” Michael added. “She also included their private correspondence, which gave me new insights into their courtship and marriage.”
Anne met Kirk on the set of Act of Love in 1953, two years after his divorce from Diana Douglas in 1951. The pair were then married in Las Vegas in 1954 and had another ceremony on their 50th anniversary in 2004.
“I often wonder what would have happened to me if I hadn’t married Anne,” Kirk once said. “I might not have survived without her business acumen and her finely-honed instincts. She saved me from financial ruin when she persisted in her distrust of my long-time lawyer and surrogate father, who indeed stole the fortune he told me I had. She saved my life when she refused to let me fly to New York on Mike Todd’s plane which crashed, killing everyone aboard. She gave me tough love when I had my stroke and thought I would never speak or work again. Anne is selfless, compassionate and loyal to a fault. She also has a wicked sense of humor and can make me laugh in English, French and German.”