However, Douglas's bold pitch, "I want to father your children," evidently clinched the deal when he used it to convince Catherine Zeta-Jones of his intensions soon after they began dating in 1998.

The couple met at France's Deauville Film Festival in September of 1998, where they were promoting "Traffic," the Steven Soderbergh drug film in which they both appeared, but shared no scenes.  By the time they started dating the next year, Douglas had filed for divorce from first wife, Diandra (they have a 28-year-old son, Cameron), and there was no stopping the fairytale-like love story in the making.

Douglas popped the question in Aspen on December 31, 1999, the eve of the millennium, presenting the raven-haired beauty an antique, 10-carat diamond and platinum engagement ring surrounded by 28 smaller stones, worth a reported $2 million.  The marquise cut of the platinum-set dazzler is said to have been invented during the 18th century to resemble the smile of Marquise de Pompadour, courtesan and mistress of France's Louis XV.
 
The couple's first child, Dylan, was born in August of 2000 in Beverly Hills, California.  In November of 2000, Catherine and Michael tied the knot in front of 250 guests during their star-studded extravaganza at New York City's Plaza Hotel. 

The high-profile couple, sharing a September 25 birthday, as well as a love of golf and architecture, seems grateful for having found one another.  "From the moment I met Catherine and we formed our family, I was a new man, very different from the one I used to be," said Douglas.  "This is the result of my every-day life with her, of the intense love we have for each other, of the great need for each other that we have, and of the great respect that we have for one another. There is a time when you become sarcastic, you lose the passion...and, when you are blessed again, and you have the fortune to love somebody the way I love my wife, you understand that you have to nurture your partner and not take everything for granted. What a marvelous gift!"