Los Angles, Oct 9 (IANS): Actor Michael Douglas says that he was "too absent" from his first marriage, to Diandra Luker.

The 72-year-old shared that he was not as close to his film producer and former wife to whom he was married from 1977 to 2000, as he is to his current wife and actress Catherine Zeta Jones, reports theguardian.com.

Douglas has 16-year-old son Dylan and his 13-year-old daughter Carys with Jones.

"I was too absent from my first marriage. Second time round, I'm so much more hands-on. By the time Dylan and then Carys were born, I was well ensconced in my career.

"They both want to be actors and Catherine and I have seen enough of them on stage to know they have got it. You'll be hearing from another generation of Douglases. I've no doubt about it," Douglas said.

The actor, who also has a 37-year-old son with Diandra, warned of the dangers of hanging on to a marriage for the sake of young children.

"A lot of marriages hang on too long for the sake of the children. But, if you start asking questions when they are older, those children will often tell you that you could have cut the tension with a knife when their parents were together and that divorce was rather like letting the air out of a balloon," he said.