Douglas and Zeta-Jones win court battle against Hello!
“We deeply appreciate that the court has recognised the principle that every individual has the right to be protected from excessive and unwarranted media intrusion into their private lives,” the couple said yesterday.
Zeta-Jones, who is due to give birth any day, was outraged at the pictures, some of which showed her being fed cake by her husband. The photographer gatecrashed the 2000 wedding in New York and secretly took pictures from a camera at his hip.
The month-long case, seen as a landmark test of celebrity privacy rights, ended at London’s High Court in March but the presiding judge reserved his verdict until yesterday.
The amount of damages will be decided at a later date. The pair sued Hello! for stg£500,000 for printing “surreptitious” pictures three days before official shots appeared in rival magazine OK!, which had signed a stg£1m deal with the couple. OK! is also seeking damages.
Welsh actress Zeta-Jones, 33, who won an Oscar for her supporting role in Chicago, had told the court she felt “violated” by the unofficial photos at the plush Plaza hotel. Calling them sleazy and unflattering, she was particularly upset at shots she said made her look as if all she did was eat.
“I felt devastated... I felt violated,” she said. “I did not want my husband shoving a spoon down my throat to be photographed ... It is offensive.”
Although High Court judge John Lindsay said Hello! breached the couples’ rights of confidence, he ruled against them on claims of invasion of privacy and rejected claims for “aggravated and exemplary” damages.
Costs of the case are estimated at £stg3m. Lindsay said that unless the parties agreed, there would be a further hearing to determine the amount for which Hello! is liable to the couple and OK! magazine.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
