Catherine Zeta-Jones, 55, was called out by some fans after sharing a ‘strange’ anecdote about an interaction with a 12-year-old fan.
Although others defended her, saying it was a joke about her older husband.
The screen star plays Morticia Addams in Netflix’s mega-hit Wednesday, which follows her titular daughter’s (Jenna Ortega) mystery-solving escapades as she attends school with her bright-as-the-sun roommate Enid (Emma Meyers).
Appearing to discuss the role on Late Night with Seth Meyers earlier this week, the Welsh actress, who is married to 80-year-old Michael Douglas, discussed how her role has introduced her to a ‘new generation of fans’.
She continued: ‘I was hitting gold balls the other day with Michael on the driving range, I was practising, and this really cute 12-year-old boy came up and asked for my autograph, it was really cute.
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‘And then I went, “haha, when I’m 70, this cute little boy will be 33”.’
As the audience laughed, Seth asked if ‘Michael can tell when she’s doing math in her head like that,’ to which she responded: ‘Yeah,
‘He usually thinks I’m wondering what club to pick and I’m not, I’m going “hmm at that time I’m sure it’ll be just fine”.’
As Seth tried to joke, ‘that’s good, as long as you know not to give them your number when they’re 12,’ Zeta-Jones quipped: ‘Hey, Michael Douglas is 25 years older than me.’
The Mask of Zorro star met Douglas when she was 28, in 1998, before marrying in 2000 and having two children.
Zeta-Jones’ comment, however, has left a bad taste in the mouth of some fans after the clip did the social media rounds.
One TikTok user, Katia, wrote: ‘Why did she have to make a comment about a 12 yo boy, please that’s so inappropriate.’
Nicola echoed: ‘Ew, the thing about the 12 yo boy, imagine if a man said that, gross.’
Dianna agreed: Anyone else think that comment about math and the little boy was super creepy?’
‘That was an incredibly inappropriate comment. Wow,’ smthn shared.
The official account of lil xan said: ‘That 12 y/o boy comment was frickin’ wild.’
Some did come to her defence, pointing out the jokey nature of the interaction.
Tillie argued: ‘She meant it as a dig to her husband cause he’s 25 years older and when Michael’s gone she can date younger men. It was a joke. It wasn’t saying she’s into 12yo… understand what she’s saying.’
Charlie Farley added: ‘She’s poking fun at her husband because of the age difference.’
This is the second season the actor has appeared in the hit Netflix series, with the show’s success holding strong as millions of viewers tuned in after a three-year wait.
Meanwhile, season one is comfortably at the top of the Netflix top 10 global chart for an English-language show after securing 252 million views.
Metro has reached out to Catherine Zeta-Jones’ representative for comment.
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