Hollywood actor Michael Douglas has denied claims that he made a direct and exclusive link between his throat cancer and oral sex.

He made the comments in an interview with The Guardian newspaper - but his spokeperson now says he merely suggested that HPV, or human papillomavirus, could be considered to be one of the causes of throat cancer.

The Guardian has posted an audio tape and transcript of the interview it claims proves the comments attributed to Douglas.

In the clip, a journalist asking Douglas about the cause of his cancer can be heard to ask "Do you feel in hindsight that you overloaded your system with drugs and drink", to which Douglas replies "...without getting too specific, this particular cancer is caused by something called HPV, which actually comes about from cunnilingus."

The 68-year-old actor announced in 2010 that he was suffering from advanced throat cancer, when he was interviewed on TV by late night host David Letterman.

Then in 2011, he said his tumour had gone, after agressive treatment that caused him to lose 32lbs in weight.

Many doctors believe Douglas was actually suffering from oropharyngeal cancer, which can be divided into two types, HPV-positive, which is related to human papillomavirus infection, and HPV-negative, which is usually linked to alcohol or tobacco use.

Douglas is currently promoting his new film Liberace - here he is on the Graham Norton show last week: