Jail has done wonders for Cameron Douglas, his famous dad, Michael, wrote in a heartfelt letter to the judge who’ll sentence the drug-dealing Hollywood scion today.
“For the past eight months, I have cherished my two hr. a week in person conversation with Cameron at the MCC [Metropolitan Correctional Center]. He’s sober!” Douglas wrote to Judge Richard Berman.
“I get to witness the wonderful young man he can be. He maintains his spirit, blames no one but himself, and recognizes his criminal activity began with his heroin use,” the “Wall Street” star notes, describing his visits with the 31-year-old occasional actor and DJ in a lower-Manhattan jail.
The son faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison — his penalty for admittedly selling bulk quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine at the Meatpacking District’s swanky Hotel Gansevoort in 2009.
In a five-page, hand-written letter made public yesterday, Michael Douglas wrote: “Dear Judge Berman, I don’t want to burden you with a litany of my son, Cameron’s rehab history, beginning at 13. He’s an adult and responsible for his own life. We do know, however, that genes, family, and peer pressure are all a strong influence on a substance abuser.”
The letter then makes a name-redacted reference to someone “whose career took him away from home, and a young mother without any parenting skills handed down from her own parents” — an apparent critique of both himself and his ex-wife, Diandra.
“Cameron grew up a single child in a bad marriage,” Michael Douglas wrote.
But while Cameron has himself accepted responsibility, many of the drug problems at the root of his criminal activities stem from his family, the son of film legend Kirk Douglas wrote.
“I have some idea of the pressure of finding your own identity with a famous father. I’m not sure I can comprehend it with two generations to deal with.”