LONDON (Reuters):
HOLLYWOOD STARS Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones face a long wait to learn if they have won their fierce court battle against a magazine which printed unofficial and unflattering photos of their wedding.
The couple's month-long case against Hello! magazine, seen as a landmark test of celebrity privacy rights, ended at London's High Court yesterday but the presiding judge will not deliver his verdict for several weeks.
The film stars sued Hello! for £500,000 (US$800,000) after it printed "surreptitious" pictures three days before official shots appeared in rival celebrity magazine OK!, which had signed a one million pound deal with the couple.
Douglas and his pregnant wife brought a rare flash of Hollywood glamour to the fusty corridors of the law courts in London when they gave evidence in person last month.
Welsh actress Zeta-Jones, 33, nominated for an Oscar for her role in Chicago, said she felt "violated" by the pictures which were taken by a photographer who gatecrashed the 2000 wedding at the plush Plaza hotel in New York.
"I felt devastated... I felt violated and upset initially and that seemed to grow," she said.
She described the Hello! photos as unflattering and sleazy and was horrified at shots showing her being fed cake, saying it made her look as if all she did was eat.
"I did not want my husband shoving a spoon down my throat to be photographed... It is offensive."
Her husband said the photographer had committed "one of the most vindictive and mean-spirited acts you can imagine".
"I felt like a peeping Tom was present," the 58-year-old son of Oscar-winning actor Kirk Douglas told the court.
The couple are claiming damages on the basis of loss of income, stress and breach of privacy.
But Hello! maintained that the couple had forfeited the right to privacy by selling pictures to OK! and then agreeing to their syndication around the world.
Eduardo Sanchez, owner of Hello! magazine, told the court the couple were more interested in making money from their wedding than in keeping their privacy.
Douglas and Zeta-Jones are one of the highest-profile couples on Hollywood's A-list. Both have enjoyed surging careers since becoming a couple, starring together in the Oscar-winning film Traffic.
The case offered a glimpse into the pampered lives of the wealthy stars, who munched on mints from a silver dish during their court appearance despite a court clerk's reminder that food was forbidden.
At one point Zeta-Jones, diamonds glittering at her ears, neck and hands, said that while a £1,000,000 might be a lot to some people in the courtroom, it was "not that much for us."
