By Alyson Fixter
Hollywood star Kate Hudson is threatening to
sue a string of celeb magazines, including Heat, Closer and Star, for
photo stories that claimed she was “wasting away” and taking her
“post-baby dieting” too far.
The 26-year-old actress, daughter of
Goldie Hawn, has hired law firm Schillings, which has also represented
Naomi Campbell and Roman Polanski in high-profile libel cases, to make
a legal complaint against five titles over spreads that ran in
September and October.
The stories, according to Schillings,
suggested that Hudson had an eating disorder that was “so grave and
serious that she was wasting away to the extreme concern of her mother
and family”, and also implied that her commercial and movie deals might
be affected.
Hudson, who is married to rock musician Chris Robinson, had a baby boy in January last year.
Last
month, Emap’s Heat ran a story headlined “Skinny Kate Wasting Away”,
which was followed by similar pieces in sister title Closer (“Kate
Hudson Has Taken Her Post-Baby Dieting Too Far”); the Daily Mail (Has
Goldie’s Girl Gone Too Far On The Treadmill?”); the National Enquirer
(“Goldie Tells Kate: ‘Eat Something’
And She Listens!”); and Star (“How Skinny Kate Got Her Curves Back”).
A
spokesman for Schillings said: “Ms Hudson will argue in the courts that
the images in question gave a seriously false and misleading impression
as to her true physical condition, in that she was portrayed as being
dangerously thin with an eating disorder, which is contrary to the true
position of her weight and diet being of a healthy nature, both at the
time of the images being taken and at present.
“An analysis of how these photographs came to be taken, sold and published will form a key aspect to the proceedings.”
The case is expected to go to jury trial in London’s High Court in 2006, unless the titles settle out of court.
The
actress has reportedly told Schillings to sue unless the publishers
agree to print apologies in their titles, and to read out court
statements saying the stories were untrue.
Emap said it had received a legal letter from Schillings and would respond “in due course”.
Schillings has a reputation for taking on difficult high-profile libel cases and winning.
It
triumphed for supermodel Naomi Campbell against the Daily Mirror over
stories about her visits to drug rehab groups, and for director Roman
Polanski against Vanity Fair – even though the director was unable to
enter Britain for fear of being extradited to the US to face sex
charges.
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