Michael Douglas's father Kirk was among wedding guests

He added: "It's a way for us, as public figures, with a situation that was getting a lot of attention, to have some control over that situation."

A secret video recording of the wedding was eventually returned to the couple. Shot by a sound engineer, who evaded security at the ceremony, the tape had allegedly been offered to the highest bidder from US media outlets.

Douglas expressed his disdain at the alleged attempt to profit from the occasion. He described the pictures which were apparently being offered on "the black market" as "lousy little photographs".

After the wedding, the couple avoided publicity by retreating to their Manhattan apartment.

It was, said Zeta Jones, a deliberate attempt to "hide away".

She added: "I didn't want to be going anywhere with long lenses - it's like, 'I just want to stay home thanks, and relax.'"

Catherine's Welsh fans were out on her big day

The Welsh actress acknowledged that marrying into one of Hollywood's best-known families had brought additional pressures into her life. She explained that the lengths some people went to get a photographs were unbelievable.

"There's so much money involved and that opened my eyes when me and Michael got together," she said. "Just the two of us being known. Coming together that makes, like six. It just makes it so much bigger."

Douglas echoed his new wife's assessment of the situation.

"There's a phenomenon that happens when two so-called celebrities get together," he said. "Everybody gets goofy. It gets really kind of crazy."

'More aggressive'

However, he said, times have changed since the days when his father received all the attention. "It's got much more aggressive," he said. The actor continued by comparing the publicity with the trend towards so-called reality television.

"Whether it's articles, you've got real life people, you've got real life stories," he explained. "We're having a big turn to real life because we don't have to pay for writers, we don't have to use actors, so I just sort of look at it that way."

The couple had spent the weekend chatting with dozens of reporters in Los Angeles about their upcoming movie, Traffic.

They both have starring roles in the picture about drug abuse and trafficking in the United States. The film, which will be released in the UK next month, is being tipped as a contender at the Oscars.