Catherine Zeta-Jones shields herself from the hot sun... as husband Michael toasts himself

While husband Michael Douglas is steadily turning red on their French Riviera vacation, the Welsh actress covered up and protected herself from the hot sun.

As the Hollywood couple vacation with their two children in St Tropez, Catherine wisely opted for a long green dress and hat to shield herself from the 82 degree heat.

Hats away: Catherine wears another hat, on her sunshine break in St Tropez, but seems to have just as much trouble keeping this one on too

Since arriving on the Riviera on Monday, the Chicago actress has been cutting a slimmer figure than normal.

On Monday, the beauty stepped out in a kaftan cover-up, with a revealing split, as she and Michael, 63, arrived in St. Tropez for a summer break .

And it seemed that the huge black sun hat she wore wasn't the only thing she was struggling to hold on to.

Hats away: Michael Douglas helps wife Catherine Zeta-Jones stay upright on the gang plank - as she gamely tries to hold onto her hat in St Tropez

Once famed in television show The Darling Buds of May for her natural, healthy look, now Catherine looks a shadow of her former curvaceous self.

The black mini gold sequinned kaftan exposed her thin legs, and the disappearance of her once voluptuous shape. 

The actress' weight is known to have has fluctuated over the years.

Slim pins: Catherine Zeta-Jones reveals her very thin legs as she holidayed with husband Michael Douglas in St Tropez

Catherine has told how she 'ate for Wales' when pregnant with her first child, Dylan, now seven.

At her heaviest she weighed 13 stone.

After the birth of her daughter Carys five years ago, she used a tough dance-based routine from her movie Chicago to whittle herself into shape.

Husband Michael looked somewhat more rounded as they arrived at swanky Club 55 in the millionaire's playground.

Hollywood wife: Catherine's weight seems to have gone the way of most Hollywood actresses - all the way down

But Catherine's weight loss is all the more surprisingly as the 38-year-old has often hit out at Hollywood's obsession with "super skinny women".

Talking about the Hollywood obsession with weight, the former West End dancer has said: 'My muscles have memory from the time I danced, and it's quick for me to get back in shape, but I'm not fanatical.'

Following The Rebound, Catherine has three more new roles lined up, starring in Law Abiding Citizen, Racing the Monsoon and Stompanato.