Paparazzi chase 'scared' Kidman

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Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman has testified she was "really scared" when a photographer pursued her in a car chase two years ago in Australia.

Kidman, 40, appeared in New South Wales Supreme Court where photographer Jamie Fawcett is suing Sydney's Sun-Herald newspaper for defamation.

The star said she was left "in tears and distressed" by the incident.

The 40-year-old added: "I was frightened and I was worried there was going to be an accident."

Damages

A jury has already found the Sun-Herald newspaper defamed Mr Fawcett in an article that criticised his methods of obtaining photographs.

The current hearing is to decide whether the newspaper's publisher, Fairfax Media, should pay him damages.

I employ people 24-hours to protect myself because I don't feel equipped to handle things Nicole Kidman

Ms Kidman was summoned to appear by Fairfax's lawyers to help to establish that some of the paper's description of Mr Fawcett was accurate.

The Oscar-winner spoke of crouching down in the back seat of her car as she was driven to her parents' home in January 2005.

"I have been pursued many times in relation to this particular man and the people he has employed to follow me," she told the court.

"I employ people to protect me now. I employ people 24-hours to protect myself because I don't feel equipped to handle things," she added.

It is not the first time the actress and the photographer have clashed.

In 2005, the Moulin Rouge star won a temporary restraining order against Mr Fawcett and another paparazzi photographer, Ben McDonald.

She said the pair made her feel like a prisoner in her own home.

The parties eventually came to an out-of-court agreement that the photographers would stay 500 metres away from her property, but could take pictures of her elsewhere.

In the same year, police accused Mr Fawcett of planting a listening device outside the Ms Kidman's Sydney home. The charges were dropped without explanation in June.

Ms Kidman, who has starred in several Hollywood blockbusters including Moulin Rouge and The Hours, is currently in her home country filming Baz Luhrmann's new drama, Australia.