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Tuesday, 20 August, 2002, 15:59 GMT 16:59 UK
Odds offered on Jones as first lady
The bets are on that Catherine Zeta Jones will one day by the First Lady of the United States.

A bookmaker in her native south Wales is giving odds that the 32-year-old Hollywood actress will eventually swap her luxury LA home for the White House.

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones
Power play: Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones

The gamble is that her husband, actor and film producer Michael Douglas, , 57, will turn his part-time involvement in politics into a full-time commitment.

Observers believe that if he joined the Democrats he would lead the opposition party's campaign for the presidency and would be popular enough to win America's top job.

Michael Douglas is no stranger to the world on international diplomacy and negotiation.

In 1998 he was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace with a mission to focus worldwide attention on nuclear disarmament and human rights.

Catherine Zeta Jones
First Lady? Betting on a Welsh woman in the White House

And, unlike most potential candidates for the presidency, he has already had a rehearsal of what might be involved if he is one day working out of the Oval Office.

In 1995, he starred in the film, The American President, in which he played a widowed world leader who begins dating again.

Now the Pontypridd-based bookmakers Jack Brown are offering odds of 6-1 he will grasp the nettle of US politics propel himself in the White House for real, making his Swansea-born wife America's first lady.

They are also taking bets on former first lady Hillary Clinton becoming the first female president, with odds of 4-1.

But it is the prospect of the Douglas-Joneses moving from make-believe to mainstream politics that is leaving the punters most excited.

Catherine Zeta Jones and son Dylan
Zeta Jones starred in Traffic while carrying Dylan

A Jack Brown spokesman said: "If Michael Douglas became president then Catherine would be the first lady. It would certainly be a big move for a girl from Swansea but she's done pretty well so far."

In addition to being one of the most powerful teams in Hollywood, the couple have a fairytale marriage which has caught the eye of millions.

They share the same birthday - 25 September - 25 years apart, and have a son, Dylan, 2, named after Wales's most famous literary export, the poet Dylan Thomas.

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02 May 02 | Entertainment
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