Michael Douglas is currently undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment for throat cancer, his rep confirms, but he says he’s “very optimistic” about his prognosis. Wall St.: Money Never Sleeps premieres in late September, and from my calculations Douglas will be about 6 weeks in to an 8 week course of treatment at that time (depending on when he started). We’ll have to see if he makes the premiere or does any promotion for the film, but he’s already canceled interviews and people will of course understand if he has to skip the premiere. There’s one thing that Douglas isn’t putting off, though, and that’s the court battle with his ex wife over the Wall St. sequel. According to the terms of Douglas’ 2000 divorce with his first wife, Diandra Luker, Luker is eligible for 50% of his earnings from any “spin offs” of films he made when they were together, from 1977 to 2000. That includes residuals and merchandising rights! Luker got a hefty $45 million dollar settlement in 2000, but she’s looking for more since the original Wall St. movie was made during their marriage in 1987. She’s claiming that Wall St 2: Money Never Sleeps fits the definition of a “spin off.” Instead of delaying a hearing over this issue, as Luker has volunteered to do, Douglas wants it to move forward as scheduled and allegedly wants to “get it over with.”

Despite being diagnosed with throat cancer, Michael Douglas refuses to delay his court battle with ex-wife Diandra Douglas over her claim that she’s entitled to half his earnings from the upcoming ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,’ which opens Sept. 24. Diandra had offered to postpone the hearing, but “Michael declined — he wants to get this over with as soon as possible,” a source told Page Six. Lawyers representing the actor and his ex tangled in a New York court Tuesday.

The suit appears to hinge on a clause in Michael and Diandra’s divorce settlement that entitles her to 50 percent of any earnings Michael receives from any movies he did — including residuals, merchandising and ancillary rights — during their 23-year marriage. According to Diandra’s lawyers, that provision includes any “spinoffs” of Douglas’ movies.

That, her camp says, should include director Oliver Stone’s ‘Wall Street’ follow-up, in which Michael reprises his Oscar-winning role as Gordon Gekko.

But Michael’s lawyer, Marilyn B. Chinitz, says his ex is misinterpreting the agreement, and it doesn’t apply to the ‘Wall Street’ sequel because it wasn’t on the horizon when the two split, and he couldn’t have guaranteed that he’d be in a sequel if one were ever made.

“When does it stop? … She’s not Mrs. Michael Douglas” anymore, Chinitz told a judge Tuesday. “It’s enough. It’s time for Ms. Douglas to move on and let Mr. Douglas move on and enjoy his life, without having to concern himself with someone trying to claw back moneys that they’re not entitled to.”

Since their divorce, Diandra has made $6.3 million from her stake in residual proceeds from other past projects, Chinitz said.

Diandra’s lawyer, Nancy Chemtob, says her client isn’t money-hungry and isn’t clinging to her ex-husband. “She has her own identity, and she’s proud of it,” Chemtob said. “My client is not greedy. The exact opposite is true. Mr. Douglas is seeking to shirk his financial responsibility that was entered into when he signed this contract.”

Michael and Diandra’s divorce remains one of the costliest in Hollywood history. The pair’s split was bitter, to say the least, with Diandra accusing Michael of sex and alcohol addiction and multiple infidelities. In 2007, Forbes magazine compiled a list of the 10 most expensive celebrity divorces and listed the Douglases’ at number eight. Diandra walked away with an estimated $45 million and the couple’s homes in Beverly Hills and Majorca.

Michael’s legal team is seeking to have the case dismissed, arguing that the suit should never have been filed in New York in the first place, as the couple’s divorce was finalized in California, and that the case has no merit because ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ is a sequel, not a “spinoff.” “They’re not the same thing,” Chinitz said in an earlier hearing.

[From Popeater]

I’m honestly torn on this issue. MSat first reported this story and told Luker “it’s time to go out and get a job and earn your own damn money.” I definitely see her point, and the fact that Luker has already earned a whopping $6.3 million post-divorce on top of the $45 million she already got makes her look like a gold digger of the highest order. She was married to Douglas for 23 years, though, and she had a great lawyer and worked out a very favorable deal for herself. She’s trying to enforce it and get half of Wall St. 2. In a way I don’t blame her, as greedy as it looks. Now that Douglas has cancer, though, she’s looking less like an ex wife trying to maintain a lifestyle and more like someone sponging off a rich ex using a divorce clause that never should have been there in the first place. Maybe Douglas is hoping the judge will see it that way too.