Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Zeta-Jones photos in porn mag



Official wedding pics of Catherine Zeta Jones and husband Michael Douglas appeared in a hard porn mag, the High Court was informed yesterday.
The OK pictures, part of an exclusive million pound deal with the couple, were shown in 21 countries throughout the world.
OK! mag is produced by Northern and Shell - headed by tycoon Richard Desmond - which publishes the Daily Express and Daily Star newspapers as well as a range of adult magazines.
The Hollywood couple are suing OK!'s rival magazine Hello! for £2.25 million for printing the unauthorised photographs of the Plaza Hotel wedding in New York's in 2000. Mr Price, representing Hello!, said their suggestion that the Hello! photographs are offensive was 'extremely difficult to accept' considering what the couple had authorised could happen to their wedding pictures.
James Price QC said: 'In the Danish publication of SE Og Hor, which is shown in most Scandinavian countries, an authorised wedding photograph is shown on the front cover in close proximity to a picture of a bare-breasted woman.' He said the magazine had further images 'of a lascivious nature' on many of the inside pages, which is including a 'particularly hard-core image'.
In the heated exchange Mr Price said the publishers of OK! magazine are pornographers.
Mr Price told the court: 'Northern and Shell's business, to put it bluntly, is pornography.' He said the celebrity couple could not have known what Northern and Shell were involved in when they signed the deal for exclusive coverage of the wedding.
Michael Tugendhat QC in court 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 that 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. Mr Price said the Hollywood stars had launched the 'enormous' action against his client claiming it had breached their privacy and confidence.
He added: '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.'
Following a summing up yesterday, it will be the time for the lawyers acting for the Douglases to show their case.
Mr Justice Lindsay is expected to spend several weeks working through the arguments before giving the verdict.

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