'Hello!' owner says sorry to Zeta-Jones

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The man who published photographs of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas taken secretly at their New York wedding apologised to the Hollywood couple yesterday for any distress they had suffered.

But Eduardo Sanchez, the owner of Hello! magazine, also described the couple's reaction to the pictures as "a little bit exaggerated".

Mr Sanchez, who is giving his evidence at the High Court in London via a Spanish interpreter, was responding to questions posed by Michael Tugendhat QC, who is representing the two actors.

The barrister asked Mr Sanchez about the account of the wedding in his magazine, which is being sued for a total of £2.25m by the couple and the rival magazine OK!, which was granted exclusive rights to cover the wedding in November 2000.

Mr Tugendhat said that according to the Hello! story, Mr Douglas had surprised guests by not dancing with his new bride at the Plaza Hotel in New York. It was also stated that he had given her a £1m yacht as a wedding present.

Mr Sanchez said the text was probably written at the Madrid offices of Hola!, the Spanish counterpart of Hello!and added that he hadn't paid any attention to the text. He was unaware that the statements were untrue, he said.

Mr Tugendhat asked: "Do you not think that the implication of the statements is unpleasant?" Mr Sanchez replied: "Well, it doesn't seem to me to be unpleasant." When told that Ms Zeta-Jones was very distressed by the publication, he replied: "I am sorry about that."

The case continues.