Celebrity Baby Blog / No Reservations

Dylan and Carys Douglas are spoiled – by their grandparents

Catherine Zeta-Jones may not want to spoil her kids, but that won’t stop her parents from doing so. The No Reservations star tells David Letterman on The Late Show that when it comes to grandma and grandpa, Dylan, 6, and Carys, 4, can get whatever they want.

My kids have been with my parents in Wales [this summer], getting spoiled. They love it. Me and Michael [Douglas] are not allowed to go there because they get spoiled rotten and it takes me three weeks to try to get them back to normal.

Besides multiple visits to Wales, Catherine, 37, makes sure her kids know about their mom’s heritage by teaching them Welsh.

I try to instill the Welsh in the kids. They don’t speak fluent Welsh, but they know ‘Jingle Bells’ in Welsh. And they know their bellybutton is called a ‘boogal.’

However, not everyone knows that.

If I’m late coming home from work, I call them and say, ‘When you’re asleep, mama is going to come in and kiss your boogal.’ They say, ‘Oh no, mama, not the boogal! Not the boogal!’ Sometimes I speak it on the phone in front of people and I think I’m gonna be arrested – kissing their boogals while they’re sleeping.

Motherhood "natural" for Catherine Zeta-Jones

She’s played an array of characters over her career, but none haschallenged Catherine Zeta-Jones the way No Reservations‘ Kate has. As aworkaholic chef, Catherine’s alter ego has no time for kids and zeromaternal instincts, which couldn’t be more different from the actressherself.

That was one of the things that I really had to keep in the back of mymind, because I’m a parent, too. My maternal instincts were hard tocontain. This woman has never been around children, doesn’t know what to dowith children. It’s just so alien to her. To me, it’s natural.

Catherine spends most of the year in Bermuda with Michael Douglas andtheir kids Dylan, 6, and Carys, 4. She says she loves the localebecause work permits are required for paparazzi to descend on theisland, which explains the dearth of photos of her family.

If you arrive with a whole bunch of cameras, they just put you back on theplane. I’m happy to report that my life in Bermuda, no paparazzi.You don’t see me going shopping, don’t see me picking my kids up from school,don’t see me coming from yoga.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Catherine Zeta-Jones on food, manners and if she'll let her kids act

In No Reservations, Catherine Zeta-Jones plays a no-nonsense masterchef who considers microwavable fish sticks a sin, which, she says,isn’t too different from her attitude towards them in real life.Shirley Temple-addicts Dylan, 6, and Carys, 4, her children withMichael Douglas, get to choose the family menu on Saturdays, and ifit’s fish, Catherine makes sure it’s top-notch cuisine.

The kids eat what the grown-ups eat. I’m very much like [my character] Kate about thefish sticks. I always cut the heads off [fish] andgive it to them filleted, but no fish sticks.

Also a big no-no are bad manners. As she has previously stated,Catherine prides herself on teaching her children proper decorum.

We’re both very big on manners. I get complimented on that, and itmakes me very proud. I was brought up in a fairlydisciplined environment, and it stands you in good stead, especiallywith spotlights on kids who come from families who are known. But atthe end of the day, if it came down to it, we’re strict in differentways. I would give in quicker than Michael. When he says no, he meansno. When he makes a decision, that’s it. Done.

As a hands-on parent – she and Michael always read to and tuck Dylanand Carys into bed – nothing is harder for the 37-year-old actress thanleaving them behind for work.

It never gets any better. It’s that initial thing of ‘Bye, Mama.’ Itjust kills me. I arrive in New York looking like a frog because it tookme two hours into the flight to get it together.

Her kids do visit their parents on set. No Reservations director Scott Hicks recalled a humorous incident with Dylan when he mistook Catherine’s stand-in for his mom.

He said, ‘There’s Mummy!’ And Michael said, ‘No, that’s Mummy’sstand-in.’ And Dylan said, ‘Oh, you mean I can marry her?’ It’s so sweet. It’s every boy’s dream.

While she has dreamt of having three children, Catherine says she doesn’t need or want that wish fulfilled anymore.

Healthy, gorgeous, one of each, I couldn’t ask for more. I wantedthree, and that equation has always been good. But Michael reminds methat I do have a stepson, Cameron [from Michael's marriage to Diandra Luker], so technically I have three.

Cameron, 28, has continued the Douglas family acting tradition andCatherine has no problems if Dylan and Carys do the same – when they’readults.

I’ve had a great life. I wouldn’t let my children, as kids [be inmovies], but when they’re grown up, if they really want to do it, I canonly say ‘Go for it.’ Look at what happened in my life.

Source: USA Today