Michael Douglas Tells Maher He Smuggled 22 Kilos of Marijuana per Suitcase to Pay for College

Michael Douglas told Bill Maher on Friday night's broadcast of HBO's Real Time that he financed his college education by smuggling 22 kilos of marijuana at a time inside two Italian soft-leather suitcases his father Kirk Douglas had given him as a Christmas gift. The 80-year-old actor appeared on the show to promote his memoir One Helluva Ride.

What did Douglas reveal about the scheme?

The disclosure came as Douglas walked Maher through early chapters of the book, which traces a career arc from co-producing the 1975 Best Picture winner One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to his 1987 Best Actor Oscar for Oliver Stone's Wall Street.

Douglas said Kirk Douglas wrote him a check for $10,000 when he turned 21 and declared him financially independent.

"Well, Dad, this is wonderful, but I've got a couple of years of tuition left in school…"

Douglas described the workaround in concrete detail.

"One time I said, 'Dad, you remember one Christmas you bought me two beautiful Italian soft leather suitcases? 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."

How did Maher respond?

Maher, who attended Cornell University with Douglas, framed the operation as a textbook case of arbitrage.

"What it is we discovered is that when you buy pot in one place and sell it in a different place, the difference between those two amounts can be very good in living your life."

Douglas added: "Especially between East Coast and West Coast."

What did the conversation cover beyond drugs?

Maher credited Douglas for taking paid work despite his family's resources. Douglas worked at a Mobil gas station in Connecticut at age 20 and earned the designation "Mobil Man of the Month."

The exchange moved to the so-called "nepo baby" debate over Hollywood nepotism. Douglas pushed back on the framing.

"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? They have a sign that says 'so and so and sons,' so why pick on show business?"

What is the book, and what's the release plan?

One Helluva Ride runs through Douglas's five-decade career in film and television, including his 60-year marriage to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones. The memoir lands on shelves as Hollywood's contract renegotiations with streaming platforms and artificial-intelligence licensing reshape the working conditions that defined Douglas's generation. The book's release is positioned to capitalize on renewed attention to the actor, who most recently appeared in the 2024 Netflix film Chief of Station.