Hollywood actor Michael Douglas has described the out-of-this-world experience he had when he nearly drowned as a young student.

The husband of Catherine Zeta-Jones said he got into trouble when he went for a swim in the ocean and nearly drowned.

While he was struggling, he said he saw a 'white light' and heard heavenly voices around him.

Even though he was so close to death, he described feeling calm in an interview with USA Today while promoting the remake of Flatliners.

'I did hear angels singing, saw a white light and then relaxation came over me as I faced death,' he said.

The 73-year-old's near-death experience happened while he was a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

Despite such an incredible experience though, Douglas says he is 'not a believer in the afterlife.'

Although the actor isn't particularly religious, when he was going through his cancer ordeal, he spoke about how moving he found the prayers of well-wishers around the world.

He told Oprah Winfrey at the time: 'For somebody who has no formal religious education—my father's Jewish, my mother's the Church of England—the amount of prayers and support that I received worldwide, I think, truly did have an influence and help in what happened. I was overwhelmed by the love.' 

Douglas is producer of Flatliners, a new take on the 1990 horror movie of the same name in which medical students suffer terrifying consequences when they take part in experiments intended to mimic the experience of dying.

Kiefer Sutherland reprises his role from the original cult movie as Nelson Wright. Other big names in the cast include Ellen Page, Nina Dobrev and Diego Luna.