Douglas, Zeta-Jones Cite Conspiracy

It took a vast tabloid-funded "conspiracy" to get the goods on Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones' ultra-private wedding in 2000.

So said the lawyer representing the Tinseltown glamour couple on the opening day of their trial against Britain's Hello! magazine on Monday. The duo has sued the glossy for invasion of privacy, alleging it hired four paparazzi to infiltrate their New York City nuptials in November 2000 and snap away sans permission.

"A gate-crasher got into the wedding and secretly took photographs," Douglas and Zeta-Jones said in a statement.

"The pictures were then sold to Hello!, which had tried but failed to obtain the right to authorized pictures. We are seeking recognition from the court that Hello! did wrong and caused great distress at what should have been a time of joy."

The newlyweds had signed an exclusive $1.7 million agreement with rival OK! magazine to print pictures of the three-ring affair at Manhattan's posh Plaza hotel in front of some 350 guests, including then item Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan and pre-scandal Martha Stewart.

But Hello! somehow managed to scoop its rival, publishing poorer quality shots three days before OK!

The couple's attorney, Michael Tugendhat, told a packed London courtroom that Douglas and Zeta-Jones were "deeply distressed" when the unauthorized pictures turned up and began to question which of their A-list friends had violated the couple's request to refrain from using a camera. (OK! had one authorized photographer there.)

"They had to wonder who could have done this to them," Tugendhat told London's High Court Monday. "Anyone would be upset on discovering marriage celebrations--something everyone would wish to be conducted amongst friends in an atmosphere of trust and enjoyment, should be exploited in this way."

He went on to note that "this was a covert operation of considerable sophistication."

While the Oscar-winning Douglas, 58, and Welsh beauty Zeta-Jones, 33, were no-shows Monday, they will generate lots more photo opportunities next week when they arrive to testify in person in what's expected to be a three-week trial. Court officials say they've got so many requests from media all over the world for a ringside seat that they've had to issue tickets in advance.

The twosome, who have the backing of OK! in their lawsuit, seek an estimated $820,000 in damages for loss of income from syndication rights and for professional distress suffered thanks to the low-quality images.

Hello!, whose $1.5 million bid to cover the celeb-heavy event was turned down by the couple, maintains it bought the photos on the open market and had a right to publish them.

Their attorney noted that Douglas and Jones went to court to get an injunction preventing Hello! from running the photos, but their request was rejected by a judge who said they could seek reparations if they wished. And that they did.

"Should Hello! be allowed to get away with it scot-free? The [couple] decided they would do their best to ensure that Hello! did not get away with it this time," said Tugendhat.

For her part, Zeta-Jones, appearing on CNN's Larry King Live this weekend, said she was extremely upset that the publication would go to such elaborate measures to get an exclusive at their expense.

"It was a big conspiracy to get someone to...break in and violate our wedding, and it's not about a monetary thing," the Chicago star told King. "Everybody at our wedding was under suspicion of who took photographs because no one took [them]...except for our photographer. And, it was just really heartbreaking to think that one of our friends could have done it."

Eventually, the bride and groom discovered some uninvited shutterbugs somehow managed to find a way in.

"It's not about being annoyed at a certain magazine," Zeta-Jones added. "It's just the principle that we want to set. We want to set just a presence of what is right and wrong, you know."

Also named in the suit are Hello!'s owner, Eduardo Sanchez Junco, the magazine's Spanish counterpart, Hola!, media consultant Marquesa De Varela, her company Neneta Overseas Ltd., and freelance photographer Philip Ramey.