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CNN Live Today

A Look at Crime and Justice: Celebrity Style

Aired July 16, 2003 - 10:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's a new chapter in the legal drama for Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. The celebrity couple is suing the magazine "Hello!" for damages after winning a case against the publication back in April. Jones and Douglas claim the magazine published unflattering pictures of them after their wedding -- or actually crashing their wedding. The hearing is in London, it's expected to last a week. A decision is expected at the end of the month.
For more on that celebrity suit and some of the other stars in the legal spotlight, we are joined by Harvey Levin, executive producer of "Celebrity Justice." Harvey, good morning.

HARVEY LEVIN, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": Hi, Daryn.

KAGAN: Hello to you. They've already decided, this court in England, has decide that the magazine did wrong but now trying to decide how wrong in terms of putting a pound figure in front of it.

LEVIN: Right. The judge has already said you better lower your expectations to the stars because he's saying this may be worth in the tens of thousands as opposed to the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The reason being, this was hardly a private wedding. It's not like "Hello!" magazine got stuff that nobody else got. This was a well-publicized event. There were other pictures. The judge not saying no harm, no foul, but he's saying the foul is relatively minor.

KAGAN: Let's move on to Lara Flynn Boyle. Not a great year for this star. She gets fired from the TV series "The Practice." Now she says someone broke into her home, not only stole some jewels but stole her identity.

LEVIN: Isn't that amazing? Yes, $300,000 worth of jewelry. The LAPD is investigating. but apparently this thief got documents as well as jewels and apparently including her Social Security number and credit card accounts reportedly have been opened up in her name. It's kind of weird that somebody could do that and assume a name that famous. But she says it happened and the police are on the case.

KAGAN: Must be somebody very thin to get away with that because it's Lara Flynn Boyle.

LEVIN: Very good!

KAGAN: Thank you so much. Let's keep it on jewelry here. And strange one from a movie set. This is a movie that will star Jennifer Lopez but also Susan Sarandon. And there was jewelry worn in I guess shooting after of for this movie. Tell us what happened from there.

LEVIN: Really weird case. This was a romantic comedy, believe that or not. And it turns out that a $4,000 piece of jewelry that Susan Sarandon wore in the movie was stolen. It turned up in an apartment of a man who was just murdered in a Dahmer-esq fashion. He was mutilated, decapitated. I can't even tell you how bad this was.

Another man came forward, confessed to the crime. The police have charged him with second degree murder. They think the victim himself stole the jewelry. Unclear if there is any connection here. But it is just a horrific crime. It's really unbelievable.

KAGAN: So I guess that will kind of taint that movie when it comes out.

LEVIN: You know what? Everyone's going to -- that's true. I mean that's absolutely true. It's going to be a curiosity piece.

KAGAN: That it is.

This is curious. Cameron Diaz doesn't want topless photos of her on the Internet.

LEVIN: You know what? This has become such a common story. Apparently she had some photos taken before she became a big star. And the reports are that they were topless photos.

The photographer who has these photos says he has a release. She says he forged the release. Bottom line, the L.A. County D.A.'s office is investigating a possible extortion case saying he that tried to get several million dollars for her in return for not publishing the photos. They executed a search warrant, broke into this guy's house, took some material and Cameron Diaz, meanwhile, has gone into court trying to get an injunction prohibiting him from publishing this stuff.

So it's one of these really interesting cases that we always hear about where stars do things before they become stars and then all of a sudden, the stuff they did becomes way more commercial and somebody tries to exploit it.

KAGAN: And yet another example of why it's so easy to fill your show every day.

LEVIN: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Plenty of stuff out there. Harvey Levin from "Celebrity Justice." Harvey, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 16, 2003 - 10:50   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's a new chapter in the legal drama for Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. The celebrity couple is suing the magazine "Hello!" for damages after winning a case against the publication back in April. Jones and Douglas claim the magazine published unflattering pictures of them after their wedding -- or actually crashing their wedding. The hearing is in London, it's expected to last a week. A decision is expected at the end of the month.
For more on that celebrity suit and some of the other stars in the legal spotlight, we are joined by Harvey Levin, executive producer of "Celebrity Justice." Harvey, good morning.

HARVEY LEVIN, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": Hi, Daryn.

KAGAN: Hello to you. They've already decided, this court in England, has decide that the magazine did wrong but now trying to decide how wrong in terms of putting a pound figure in front of it.

LEVIN: Right. The judge has already said you better lower your expectations to the stars because he's saying this may be worth in the tens of thousands as opposed to the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The reason being, this was hardly a private wedding. It's not like "Hello!" magazine got stuff that nobody else got. This was a well-publicized event. There were other pictures. The judge not saying no harm, no foul, but he's saying the foul is relatively minor.

KAGAN: Let's move on to Lara Flynn Boyle. Not a great year for this star. She gets fired from the TV series "The Practice." Now she says someone broke into her home, not only stole some jewels but stole her identity.

LEVIN: Isn't that amazing? Yes, $300,000 worth of jewelry. The LAPD is investigating. but apparently this thief got documents as well as jewels and apparently including her Social Security number and credit card accounts reportedly have been opened up in her name. It's kind of weird that somebody could do that and assume a name that famous. But she says it happened and the police are on the case.

KAGAN: Must be somebody very thin to get away with that because it's Lara Flynn Boyle.

LEVIN: Very good!

KAGAN: Thank you so much. Let's keep it on jewelry here. And strange one from a movie set. This is a movie that will star Jennifer Lopez but also Susan Sarandon. And there was jewelry worn in I guess shooting after of for this movie. Tell us what happened from there.

LEVIN: Really weird case. This was a romantic comedy, believe that or not. And it turns out that a $4,000 piece of jewelry that Susan Sarandon wore in the movie was stolen. It turned up in an apartment of a man who was just murdered in a Dahmer-esq fashion. He was mutilated, decapitated. I can't even tell you how bad this was.

Another man came forward, confessed to the crime. The police have charged him with second degree murder. They think the victim himself stole the jewelry. Unclear if there is any connection here. But it is just a horrific crime. It's really unbelievable.

KAGAN: So I guess that will kind of taint that movie when it comes out.

LEVIN: You know what? Everyone's going to -- that's true. I mean that's absolutely true. It's going to be a curiosity piece.

KAGAN: That it is.

This is curious. Cameron Diaz doesn't want topless photos of her on the Internet.

LEVIN: You know what? This has become such a common story. Apparently she had some photos taken before she became a big star. And the reports are that they were topless photos.

The photographer who has these photos says he has a release. She says he forged the release. Bottom line, the L.A. County D.A.'s office is investigating a possible extortion case saying he that tried to get several million dollars for her in return for not publishing the photos. They executed a search warrant, broke into this guy's house, took some material and Cameron Diaz, meanwhile, has gone into court trying to get an injunction prohibiting him from publishing this stuff.

So it's one of these really interesting cases that we always hear about where stars do things before they become stars and then all of a sudden, the stuff they did becomes way more commercial and somebody tries to exploit it.

KAGAN: And yet another example of why it's so easy to fill your show every day.

LEVIN: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Plenty of stuff out there. Harvey Levin from "Celebrity Justice." Harvey, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com