BRITAIN: London's Royal Courts of Justice got the Hollywood treatment yesterday when film stars Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones swept into town.
The golden couple have been gunning for Hello! magazine ever since it published pictures taken by a paparazzo gatecrasher at their glitzy New York wedding in November 2000.
With the now traditional cry from the court usher of "Make sure all your mobile phones are switched off", Mr Justice Lindsay came into court to hear from the couple, who were giving evidence for the first time.
Mr Michael Tugendhat QC called his first witness - the woman from a humble background in Swansea who rose to become a Hollywood star.
Ms Zeta-Jones, who is due to give birth to her second child next month, was settled in gently by the judge who told her she could call a temporary halt to the proceedings whenever she felt uncomfortable. She was dressed all in black and her jewellery was limited to diamond earrings and large pendant at her throat.
Mr Douglas, chewing vigorously on a throat lozenge, scanned the ranks of reporters as they gazed back at him.
They had both made the journey to London to tell the court how they were "devastated, shocked and appalled" when they realised their big day had been invaded by paparazzi.
Ms Zeta-Jones said it had been just the wedding she wanted - homely, even though it was on the grand scale at the Plaza Hotel, New York, in November 2000.
The newlyweds spent the first day of their honeymoon reminiscing about "what a wonderful time we and our guests had".
But when she and her new husband found out that pirated pictures of the £1.2 million (ca. €1.8 million) event were due to be published in Hello! magazine, "our peace and happiness evaporated," she said.
"I felt violated and that something precious had been stolen from me," she said.
The golden couple are suing Hello! for £500,000 (ca. €750,000) damages for invasion of privacy.
They had signed a £1 million (ca. €1.5m) deal with rival OK! magazine after turning down a £1 million-plus offer from Hello!
She said that she, her husband, and the Plaza Hotel in New York brought in security "to protect our privacy".
"To protect against unwanted guests coming in, disguising themselves or trying to sneak information. So that we felt comfortable to let our hair down and enjoy the wedding the way we wanted to enjoy it."
She said that she had photos of her immediate family - and of her son Dylan a few weeks after his birth - published in OK! by arrangement, but not in Hello!.
The money had gone into a trust for her son. The two photographers had been chosen by her and her husband personally.
"I wanted to achieve a sense of formality - photographs that were more of a formal nature, classic beautifully-shot wedding photographs. And I also wanted to capture the spirit of the wedding, the fun, the joy, in more of a reportage kind of way."
Mr Tugendhat asked how she felt when she was told that some illicit photos were to be published.
"I felt devastated. I felt violated and upset initially and that seemed to grow as the stress of the whole occasion unfolded, which was immediately after the wedding and consequently up until this day." Mr Tugendhat asked if she was reassured when she saw the photos.
"The quality was what any bride would hate to have out there. It was cheap and tacky and everything I didn't want to have shown as being part of my special day."
Ms Zeta-Jones - who appeared as a courtroom witness in her recent film Chicago - was then cross-examined by Mr James Price QC, for Hello! He said that "out of consideration" he would not question her at great length, covering only matters that it was his duty to do so and would "reserve other matters for your husband".
Asked about what aspects of her wedding she had wanted to "keep secret away from the prying eyes of the world," the star said there were "so many different things that I wanted to keep secret".
"There are certain moments of emotion. There's certain moments of embrace, not just myself but other family and friends."
Mr Price said the bride was pictured in OK! embracing her husband and family.
To laughter in court, she jokingly replied: "There is embracing and there is embracing. They are two very different things."
Ms Zeta-Jones told the court: "I went to great lengths to retain the privacy of my wedding dress and the cake, which was of a personal design."
Mr Price reminded her that what the case was about was the privacy of what was published in Hello!
She replied: "I understand that is part of the case, but I think that I have a right to have that privacy, the right to have my wedding the way that I wanted to have it and not have a different person's interpretation of it and show it in a light that I did not want it to be shown."
Asked to look at a copy of Hello! containing the photographs at the centre of the case, she described one which featured her father - who "was a very proud man that night" - as "very offensive".
Mr Price asked if she found offensive a picture showing her husband feeding her a piece of wedding cake.
Again to laughter, she replied: "Yes. I did not want my husband shoving a spoon down my throat to be photographed ... It looks like all I did was eat. It is offensive and it is obviously a stolen photograph."
Mr Douglas, who gave his full name as Michael Kirk Douglas, told the judge: "I wanted our wedding day to be everything that my wife wanted it to be. I wanted it to be a day of celebration, a day to be shared with our family and our friends and for them to understand the love we had together."
When he heard about the illicit photos, he was "completely devastated and very offended".
He said that the other painful aspect was wondering which of their guests would have done this.
Cross-examined by Mr Price, Mr Douglas agreed that he felt the Hello! pictures were "voyeuristic".
"Yes, I felt like a Peeping Tom was present," he said.