Ewan McGregor and Sharleen Spiteri have both had paparazzi run-ins

McGregor, speaking to a London radio station on Thursday with Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri, also said that celebrities were entitled to use violence against paparazzi intruding on their lives.

He told LBC radio Heat was "dirty, filthy... I'd like to put that on record. People shouldn't buy it because it sucks."

He then joked to Spiteri: "I think we should encourage people to beat up paparazzis - use extreme force."

McGregor later said about paparazzi photographers "they shouldn't be shot, but they should be severely beaten up.

"They don't have the right to intrude on people's lives, I really don't think they do," he said.

Spiteri trailed

McGregor is currently travelling round the UK with Spiteri promoting the Children's Hospice Association of Scotland.

The attack was thought to have been provoked by Spiteri's comments that she had been trailed by paparazzi photographers during her recent pregnancy. Pictures had appeared in Heat.

The magazine has also printed pictures of McGregor's daughter, Esther Rose.

Ewan McGregor is a fiercely private man

"Especially with my children, I've always felt that as a parent, it's my right to protect my children and everyone would agree with that," the actor said.

Heat magazine said they were making "no comment" about the remarks.

McGregor is not the first star to have run ins with paparazzi and celebrity coverage.

Oasis singer Liam Gallagher and Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay have both clashed with photographers in the past.

Catherine Zeta Jones and her husband Michael Douglas took Hello! magazine to court in a privacy trial after the magazine printed paparazzi photographs of their 2000 wedding.