Hollywood stars signed deal with ‘publisher of pornography’
In a terse exchange at the start of Day 18 of the Hollywood stars’ damages action, Northern and Shell, publishers of OK! magazine, came under fire from rival Hello!.
James Price QC, for Hello!, which is being sued for a total of £2.25m for publishing wedding pictures snatched by the paparazzi, told Mr Justice Lindsay: “Northern and Shell’s business, to put it bluntly, is pornography.”
He said the Douglases could not have known what Northern Shell were involved in when they signed a £1m deal allowing it exclusive coverage of the 2000 New York wedding.
Michael Tugendhat QC, representing the couple and Northern and Shell, rose to his feet to interrupt: “I don’t understand what he is saying. It is obviously a smear.”
Mr Price replied: “Yes, but it is true.”
The barrister said in his closing speech that Mr Douglas’s suggestion the Hello! photographs were lascivious and his wife’s claimed distress had to be viewed against the way the authorised pictures bought by Northern and Shell were presented to the public.
He said the suggestion the Hello! photographs were offensive was “extremely difficult to accept” considering what the couple had authorised could happen to their pictures.
Mr Price said the official photographs were syndicated in 21 countries, including Denmark.
“In the Danish publication of SE Og Hor, which is distributed in most Scandinavian countries, an authorised wedding photograph appears on the front cover in close proximity to a picture of a bare-breasted woman.”
He said the magazine contained further images of “a lascivious nature”.
“Confidence and privacy is essentially what this trial is all about.
“But what has been proved is that the Douglases wanted control of publicity and not privacy. Control of publicity and privacy are two different subjects,” he told Mr Justice Lindsay.
The hearing continues today.
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