Michael Douglas Clarifies Remarks About Cancer and Oral Sex "WTF"

When Michael Douglas mentioned in an interview that performing oral sex could be a risk factor for the type of throat cancer he had, his comments swept the Internet.

Now the Behind the Candelabra star is issuing a clarification.

"Michael Douglas did not say cunnilingus was the cause of his cancer," his rep says his a statement. "It was discussed that oral sex is a suspected cause of certain oral cancers as doctors in the article point out but he did not say it was the specific cause of his personal cancer."

Douglas, 68, announced in 2011 that he had beaten his cancer after going through radiation and chemotherapy to treat a tumor on the base of his tongue.

Over the weekend, in an interview with The Guardian, he was asked whether he regretted drinking and smoking since both can lead to oral cancers.

"No. Because without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV [human papillomavirus], which actually comes about from cunnilingus," he was quoted as saying.

He added: "I did worry if the stress caused by my son's incarceration didn't help trigger it." (His son Cameron pleaded guilty in 2011 to possessing drugs in his jail cell while serving a federal prison sentence for drug dealing.)

"But yeah, it's a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer," the Oscar-winning actor continued. "And if you have it, cunnilingus is also the best cure for it," Douglas said jokingly.

His remarks did serve to raise awareness about HPV's role in a certain type of oral cancer, namely those classified as oropharyngeal cancer, a cancer that affects the back third of the tongue, the soft palate, the side and back walls of the throat and the tonsils. But experts say that the clarification was in order.

"Oral sex doesn't cause oral cancer," says Dr. Maura Gillison, a head and neck medical oncologist and professor at Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center. "It's a means by which to acquire an infection that rarely causes cancer."

A recent study by Dr. Gillison found that 1 percent of the U.S. population has the HPV 16 infection, the form of HPV associated with cancers of the oropharanx or middle throat. It typically takes two to three decades before someone with this virus develops cancer, Dr. Gillison noted.