Justin Timberlake has learned not to retaliate when photographers jump out of the darkness to snap night-time shots of him, after Los Angeles lawmakers told him his attacks could land him in big trouble.
Timberlake and girlfriend Cameron Diaz were reprimanded after fighting with paparazzi and stealing a camera after a frightening confrontation in 2004, and told they could not take the law into their own hands.
Law-abiding Timberlake admits a secret meeting with officials in the Los Angeles district attorney's office shook him up and now he will always think twice before lashing out at a snapper.
He says: "That was bad. I had to go meet the district attorney, who slapped the back of my hand and said I shouldn't retaliate with violence.
"I was like: 'Of course, you're right.'"