Catherine Zeta-Jones has become accustomed to life in the spotlight since she rose to fame in the early '90s, but that doesn't mean she wanted to raise a family in public view.
In a new interview with The Times in line with the release of Wednesday season two, the star of the hit Netflix show revealed why she fled New York for Bermuda after her wedding in 2000 to raise her two children, Dylan, 25, and Carys, 22, with her Hollywood heavyweight husband, Michael Douglas.
"The city in the summertime is too hot, so Michael took me to the Hamptons and I was like, 'same people in shorts'. The social calendar is exhausting," the Mask of Zorro actress said.
"So Michael took me to Bermuda because his mother was Bermudian, and I thought, 'I love this'. It's an hour and a half in a plane. It's a British colony, there were pictures of the Queen when I went to the bank. So we bought a house there and stayed for ten years."
Inside Catherine and Michael's home in Bermuda
Catherine and her Fatal Attraction star husband sold their house in Bermuda in 2019. Worth just shy of $11 million, the gated property featured incredible harbour views, as well as six bedrooms, six bathrooms, and two half bathrooms.
The house itself is an ivy-covered English country-style home which dates back to 1827. It had been fully renovated to feature a living room with a fireplace, a formal dining room, a gourmet-style kitchen, and a music room.
Why did Catherine Zeta-Jones move to Bermuda?
Francesca Shillcock, HELLO!'s Digital Travel Editor, can see why Bermuda had a certain appeal.
"Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas are fortunate in that they have the luxury of endless choice on where they live with their kids, and it sounds like they made the perfect selection for them as a family by moving away from the city to a more private haven," she says.
"As a very proud Welsh native, Catherine is arguably an outdoorsy girl at heart and no doubt loved the laid-back and nature-filled lifestyle of living in Bermuda over the Big Apple.
"New York is called 'the city that never sleeps' for a reason and it seems Catherine bore the brunt of this…Leaving New York behind was evidently not a difficult decision to make, and it's not hard to see why. Their home in Bermuda will have offered them more square footage for their dollar, thanks to its expansive land, and in turn, they will have been offered more privacy."
How many homes does Catherine Zeta-Jones own?
Despite having sold their Bermuda home, Catherine and Michael still own numerous properties.
They currently have four homes, two in New York, one in Canada, and one in Spain. "I know it sounds very jet set, and I love to surround myself with beauty, but it's not excessive, it's very comfortable," the Chicago actress told The Times.
It's between these homes that the couple stores their Oscars - Catherine's for 2002's Chicago, and Michael's for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest from 1975 and 1987's Wall Street. "Mine is in the country house in New York, Michael's is in the apartment in New York," the actress confessed. "We keep them apart, just in case, you know, there isn't like hanky-panky going on there."