Alleged Stalker Apologizes to Zeta-Jones

By Rachel F. Elson

06/30/2004 at 08:00 AM EDT

A woman charged with stalking Terminal actress Catherine Zeta-Jones has written a letter of apology to the actress and her famous father-in-law.

Defense lawyer Richard Herman released the letter from Dawnette Knight, who was arrested in Beverly Hills, Calif., in early June, the BBC reports. Knight has been charged with more than two dozen counts of stalking, making numerous calls and writing threatening letters to Zeta-Jones.

"I was a confused young woman infatuated with Michael Douglas and have no rational explanations for my actions," Knight, 22, writes in the single-page letter, which also apologizes for "any distress" she might have caused.

Zeta-Jones, 34, is married to Douglas, 59; Knight addressed the letter to both the Oscar-winning star and to Douglas's father, actor Kirk Douglas.

"It would be a wonderful good deed if you would all forgive me so that I can go back to college to finish my studies in child psychology," Knight's letter continues.

Knight is remains jailed on $1 million bail pending a July 26 hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Her attorney, Herman, defended her actions as a "prank," NBC News reports. "There was never, ever any chance that anything would ever happen," Herman said. "The worst thing she's ever been accused of was killing her ex-boyfriend's goldfish and she says she's innocent of that. So, for someone who never killed a goldfish, this has been blown far out of proportion."