Actor Michael Douglas, 79, Says His Tongue Cancer Stemmed From HPV Infection Contracted During Oral Sex — Understanding HPV-Linked Cancers

RELATED: HPV and Cancer Risk: The Basics

Speaking in an earlier interview with The Guardian, Douglas rejected reports that his throat cancer diagnosis was due to smoking, shamelessly explaining, “Without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV [human papillomavirus], which actually comes about from cunnilingus.”

According to The Hype, Douglas admitted in the 2013 interview that it’s possible his son’s prison sentence on drug charges contributed to the onset of his diagnosis.

Douglas explained, “I did worry if the stress caused by my son’s incarceration didn’t help trigger it. But yeah, it’s a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer.

“And if you have it, cunnilingus is also the best cure for it. It giveth and it taketh away.”

The Guardian did follow this up with a doctor, who said the “giveth and taketh” part “makes no sense.”

As for how Douglas felt amid the initial time-frame of his diagnosis, he told the news outlet, “Stage-four cancer and a shit-pot of chemo and radiation. That’s a rough ride, that can really take it out of you.

“Plus, the amount of chemo I was getting, it zaps all the good stuff too. It made me very weak.”

Michael Douglas’ Oral Cancer Battle

In 2010, Michael Douglas, announced that he had been diagnosed with throat cancer, specifically stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma, and after aggressive chemotherapy and radiation, he was declared cancer-free early the next year.

Douglas has since become an outspoken advocate for oral cancers and their link to HPV.

During a 2013 interview with fellow actor Samuel L. Jackson, Douglas revealed that he had actually been diagnosed with tongue cancer.

“This was right before I had a big tour for Wall Street, so we said, ‘There’s no way we can cancel the tour and say we don’t feel well,'” Douglas said while explaining the motivation to lie about his diagnosis. “I said, ‘You’ve just got to come out and just tell them I’ve got cancer and that’s it.'”

Douglas revealed that’s when his surgeon said: “Let’s just say it’s throat cancer.”

The major concern, Douglas said, was that, given the size of the tumor and advanced stage of the disease, it seemed likely that he would need surgery to remove parts of his jaw and tongue.

Fearing this would result in countless questions about his prognosis and misleading reports about possible disfigurement as he promoted his new film, it was decided that the truth would stay hidden for some time.

Douglas complained of symptoms for nearly a year before being diagnosed with cancer. He said that specialists in the United States kept insisting he was simply dealing with an infection at the time.

Then, while spending time at his summer home in Quebec’s Mont-Tremblant, Douglas visited a teaching hospital where a doctor located the lump at the back of his throat. Soon after, a biopsy revealed the actor had stage 4 tongue cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, about 58,450  new cases of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer will be diagnosed in 2024. Oropharyngeal cancer is a type of head and neck or throat cancer that’s most commonly associated with HPV. This type of cancer is far more common in men than in women, and the incidence has been increasing over time.

As previously stated, Douglas initially said his cancer was caused by engaging in oral sex, which could have led him to contract HPV. Douglas later said his years of alcohol abuse and heavy smoking were also likely to blame for his cancer, along with stress.

Understanding the Connection Between Head & Neck Cancers and HPV

It’s much more common to know someone who has a head or neck cancer now-a-days than it was several decades ago. And that’s because of its strong connection to HPV, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States.

“From the 1980s to the 2010s, the rate of HPV-related head and neck cancers has gone up by 300 percent,” Dr. Ted Teknos, a head and neck cancer specialist, and president and scientific director of University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, Ohio, told SurvivorNet during a previous interview.

“That is entirely due to the HPV infection, in the throats of patients who have been exposed to HPV. So there is no myth … HPV causes throat cancer and it’s a sexually transmitted disease. And it’s something that is an epidemic in the United States.”

Understanding HPV and Cancer Risk

Meanwhile, Dr. Allen Ho, a head and neck surgeon at Cedars-Sinai, says the vast majority of humans in the United States — both men and women — will eventually get infected with HPV.

Dr. Ho explained, “The important thing to know about HPV is that there are many different strains, and only a couple of them tend to be more cancer-inducing.

“Probably less than 1 percent of the population who get infected happen to have the cancer-causing virus that somehow their immune system fails to clear, and over 15 to 20 years it develops from a viral infection into a tumor, and a cancer.”

It’s unclear whether HPV alone is enough to trigger the changes in your cells that lead to throat or mouth cancer, or whether this happens in combination with other risk factors like smoking, as Michael Douglas said of his cancer. Of course, some people who develop throat or mouth cancers have no known risk factors for the condition. Genetics can play a role in this cancer, too.

Why the HPV Vaccine is so Important in Preventing Cancer

The HPV Vaccine

Throat and oral cancers are unique in that they’re usually preventable with the HPV vaccine. And that’s why those eligible should get vaccinated against HPV, SurvivorNet experts say.

The vaccine is typically given to children before they are sexually active, as HPV is transmitted through sexual contact.

And contrary to some detrimental misinformation circulated online, the HPV vaccine is entirely safe.

There are virtually no side effects with this vaccine, Dr. Jonathan Berek, director of the Women’s Cancer Center at Stanford Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.

It is “incredibly safe,” he insisted. “It’s as safe as any vaccine has ever been. It’s highly-effective. It’s highly-predictive.”

Dr. Berek continued, “Some people say they’re concerned about it because they’re — they’ve called it a sex vaccine, that somehow it’s gonna encourage people to be sexually active.  First of all, that’s not true. It’s, it’s an anti-cancer vaccine. And second of all, there are no data to support that contention.

“There are absolutely none. So it’s really based on fear, misinformation, disinformation … it’s not based on science or data. The science is very clear.  It’s a highly-effective, safe vaccine, and should be promoted.  And in those countries now where it has been promoted, we’re starting to see substantial reductions in the precancerous and early cancers of the cervix.”

HPV is responsible for 34,800 cases of cancer in the U.S. each year, but 90% of them can be prevented thanks to the HPV vaccine Gardasil.

RELATED: Should Children as Young as 9-Years-Old Get The HPV Vaccine?

What Causes Tongue Cancer?

According to Cedars-Sinai, several types of cancer develop in the tongue, with the most common being squamous cell carcinoma. The two types of tongue cancer are:

• Cancer of the oral tongue, which consists of the front two-thirds of the tongue that you can stick out.
• Cancer of the base of the tongue, the area which is the back one-third of the tongue that extends down the throat.

Although some people may be diagnosed with tongue cancer and have no risk factors, Cedars-Sinai says this type of cancer is most commonly found in adults 40 years old and up. Men are also twice as likely to be diagnosed with tongue cancer.

Other risk factors, per Cedars-Sinai include:

• Smoking and drinking alcohol (smokers are 5x more likely to develop tongue cancer than nonsmokers)
• Human papillomavirus (HPV)
• Race (Black men have a greater risk than caucasians)

Additionally, symptoms of tongue cancer can include:

• An unusual lump on the side of the tongue
• An ulcer-like lump, of a grayish-pink to red color
• A lump that bleeds easily when touched

Tongue cancer may be hard to spot in its early stages, however, when the cancer develops, patients may experience trouble with swallowing, voice changes, pain in the ear, pain in the throat, or a feeling of fullness in the throat.

As for how throat/tongue cancer is diagnosed, it’s usually done through X-rays, CT scans, and PET scans. A diagnosis often requires a biopsy.

For tongue cancer treatment, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are usually done.

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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