Hello! wins appeal over Zeta Jones photos

The British celebrity photograph magazine Hello! has won its challenge to court order that it should pay more than £1 million…

The British celebrity photograph magazine Hello! has won its challenge to court order that it should pay more than £1 million damages for publishing paparazzi pictures of the wedding of Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas.

Hoolywood stars, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Hoolywood stars, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones

Celebrity couple Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas won damages in 2003 against celebrity magazine Hello! over unauthorised photographs of their November 2000 wedding in New York.

The couple's case was won on the issue of commercial confidentiality, but not on the issue of privacy. The amount of damages will be assessed at a further hearing.

During the hearing, which lasted six weeks, Ms Zeta Jones (33) told how she had felt "devastated, shocked and appalled" when she realised that paparazzi had gatecrashed her wedding at the Plaza Hotel in New York in November 2000. She and her 58-year-old husband had signed a £1 million deal with OK! magazine for exclusive coverage of the event after turning down a higher offer from Hello!.

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Ms Zeta Jones claimed she felt "violated" when the magazine published the unauthorised photographs, which she claimed were "sleazy and unflattering".