Zeta-Jones Reinforces Her Welsh Roots

By Stephen M. Silverman

Tuesday December 31, 2002 01:00 PM EST

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Catherine Zeta-Jones -- who two weeks ago announced that she and her family were moving to Bermuda -- apparently has ticked off a neighbor in her old hometown of Mumbles, Wales, Reuters reports.

Despite objections, the leggy "Chicago" star, 33, has received permission to build a large, three-story house in Mumbles, a seaside suburb of Swansea. The dwelling reportedly will overlook the Bristol Channel and is near a trailer park and a private housing development.

According to Reuters, the neighbor, who did not wish to be identified, alerted authorities about plans for the new structure, complaining that its large picture windows will overlook the bedroom and bathroom of his house.

"We have had one letter of objection," said a spokesman for Swansea Council, who added that the building plans had been approved.

Zeta-Jones grew up in Mumbles and reportedly wants her children to stay close to their Welsh roots. She has a 2-year-old son, Dylan, with husband Michael Douglas, 58, and the couple -- which owns homes in New York, Los Angeles, Aspen, Bermuda and Majorca -- is expecting a second child in March.

At the Dec. 18 premiere of "Chicago" in New York, Zeta-Jones told the New York Daily News that Bermuda will serve as the family's base because, she said, "My husband's mother is Bermudian."

She was referring to Diana Darrid, whose clan has been on the island since the British settled it in the 17th century. "We have an instant family and friends," she said.

Darrid, 79, also has just tied the knot in Bermuda to husband No. 3, former President Nixon aide Donald Webster, 72.