Zeta-Jones Topless Picture Flap

BUSTED: Mug shots of the rich and famous.

MAY 1--Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas are threatening legal action against Clear Channel Worldwide, claiming that the media giant has recently published photos showing the Oscar-winning actress "heavily pregnant and topless," The Smoking Gun has learned.

In a blistering April 30 letter, a copy of which you'll find here, the pit bull litigators from L.A.'s Lavely & Singer accused Clear Channel, the nation's largest radio operator, of posting--on web sites maintained by some of the conglomerate's 1200 U.S. stations--a series of "surreptitiously taken" pictures showing Zeta-Jones sunning herself on the patio of a private estate in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

In one of the images, which have been circulating on the Internet for ten days, Zeta-Jones can clearly be seen smoking a cigarette--a big no-no for expectant mothers. The photographs of Zeta-Jones, which were obviously taken from a significant distance with a telephoto lens, have been offered for sale by a European photo agency.

Last month, Zeta-Jones and Douglas won a legal victory over the British publication Hello!, which published unauthorized photos of the couple's November 2000 wedding. At trial, Zeta-Jones testified that she was "devastated, shocked, and appalled" by the magazine's actions. Damages in that London case have yet to be determined. (3 pages)