During an interview with “Guardian” over the weekend, Michael Douglas opened up on his role as Liberace in “Behind the Candelabra,” his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones’s bipolar two disorder and what he believed to be the cause of the throat cancer he had in 2010: oral sex.

When asked if he regretted smoking and drinking because of the throat cancer, Douglas made the following comments: “No. Because without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV [human papillomavirus], which actually comes about from cunnilingus.  But yeah, it’s a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer.”

People found that revelation quite shocking for two reasons: first, that’s a very personal subject for a celebrity to discuss publicly and second, the comments essentially blamed his wife for developing cancer.  After the suggestion that bedroom activities with Zeta-Jones caused Douglas’s throat cancer, searches on HPV reached a high and caused Douglas’s representative to issue a statement on the matter.  “Michael Douglas did not say cunnilingus was the cause of his cancer.  It was discussed that oral sex is a suspected cause of certain oral cancers…but he did not say it was the specific cause of his personal cancer,” the rep said.

That doesn’t seem to mesh up with the original comments Douglas made, but it’s almost certain that Zeta-Jones (who must have been mortified to hear about her connection with her husband’s oral cancer) is content to put the matter to rest.

Regardless of what Douglas meant exactly, it is highly unlikely for oral sex to cause oral cancer. According to Dr. Maura Gillison, a head and neck oncologist at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer center, “Oral sex doesn’t cause oral cancer.  It’s a means by which to acquire an infection that rarely causes cancer.”  This is sure to be a relief for everyone who might have had a bit of a cancer scare after reading Douglas’s comments, especially considering the fact that HPV affects 79 million people in the U.S.

While Zeta-Jones might be able to rest easy now, the same can’t be said for Douglas’s son Cameron. Right about the same time Douglas was diagnosed with cancer, his son was incarcerated again for drug charges.  “I did worry if the stress caused by my son’s incarceration didn’t help trigger [the cancer],” Douglas said.  Cameron was sentenced to five years in prison for the drugs and got an extra few years tacked on to the sentence later for having drugs in prison.

No matter what caused Douglas’s cancer and had him near death, the actor is healthy now and is back to work.