Catherine Zeta Jones has spoken in moving terms about the emotional ordeal¹（折磨） she suffered watching her husband and fellow actor Michael Douglas fight cancer.

 

Speaking at a convention of cancer doctors, she described herself as a "mess" following the 2010 diagnosis², which led to Douglas, 69, undergoing seven weeks of treatment including gruelling（折磨人的） chemotherapy.

 

He lost 40 pounds and had a walnut-sized tumour³ removed from the back of his tongue after initially⁴ being misdiagnosed as suffering from throat cancer.

 

As the couple took to the stage at the International Federation⁵ of Head and Neck Oncologic Societies 5th World Congress opening ceremony in New York, Zeta-Jones, 44, told the assembled doctors: "I'm very happy to be here this morning with my husband.”

 

Pausing to convey the significance of what she had just said, she went on: "I mean that literally⁶." "I'm very happy to be here with my husband."

 

Turning to the moment the couple learned Douglas had stage four cancer of the tongue, she said: "I was a mess. I'll be quite frank, I was a mess.

 

"When I'm married to a man who has such a conviction for life...he fights to make the wrongs right. For the first time he was fighting for his life."

 

As he took over the microphone, Douglas joked that he was nervous appearing in front of so many doctors.

 

"As long as nobody tells me to bend over and touch my toes and cough we're all going to be just fine," he said, to laughter from the crowd of 3,000 head and neck cancer specialists.

 

"Generally when I'm on a stage at a prestige event like this I'm accepting some kind of an award ...[I'm] grateful not to walk out of here with another prognosis."

 

Joking aside, he went on: "In all seriousness and in every sense of the word. I'm very fortunate to be here today."

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