Elizabeth Hurley: Hurley in the Morning

https://lebeauleblog.com/2020/06/01/elizabeth-hurley-hurley-in-the-morning/

The nineties were a big decade for Hugh Grant and by extension his model-turned-actress (or actress-turned-model depending who you ask) girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley. He became one of the biggest movie star in the world with Four Weddings and a Funeral and she took the fashion world by storm with the daring dress she wore to the premiere.

The couple survived an embarrassing sex scandal and came out on the other side more popular than ever. Hurley started getting movie roles like the female lead in Austin Powers and started producing movies for Grant. But Hurley’s charmed life hit a rough patch around the turn of the millenium.

When she graced the cover of the November 2001 issue of Movieline magazine, Hurley was trying to reignite her movie career despite too much tabloid coverage and several minor (or not-so-minor) controversies.

At several points in her life recently, Elizabeth Hurley might have considered chucking it all and retreating to a cozy, secluded cottage tucked away in the Cotswolds. Considering what she’s been through since 1994, it’s not like anyone would blame her. After grabbing headlines for wearing an eye-popping Versace number held together–just–by safety pins to the premiere of her former longtime boyfriend Hugh Grant’s movie Four Weddings and a Funeral, she suffered the trauma of being the wronged woman when Grant cheated on her with a lady for hire in 1995. There was the professional disappointment of seeing the medical thriller Extreme Measures and the mob comedy Mickey Blue Eyes–the two films she produced through her and Grant’s shingle, Simian Films–fizzle at the box office. There was the intense media scrutiny when she and Grant broke off their relationship last year. Then there’s been the nonstop flurry of ludicrous, unsettling gossip items and strange happenings that the tabloids have had a field day dissecting. How she’s been dating every man under the sun, from Denis Leary to Mick Jagger to art dealer Tim Jefferies to businessman Teddy Forstmann (most of whom are old friends). How she told Jane magazine that Grant was an unspectacular lover (the publication has since printed a retraction and apologized). How she filmed an Estée Lauder TV commercial during the SAG strike when she shouldn’t have (she insists she didn’t know she was violating any rules). How she considers Marilyn Monroe fat (she claims her quote was taken out of context). It’s enough to make anyone want to run for the hills and seek blissful anonymity.

The last decade of Elizabeth Hurley’s life hasn’t been all about downturns and misunderstandings, however. Quite the contrary. She’s flourished as the face of Estée Lauder; she has a healthy feature-film career, thanks to the big hit Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery; she’s become an international icon and has appeared on “Most Beautiful” lists across the globe; she has several projects brewing at Simian, which she still runs with Grant; and she calls some of the most established people in the world from pop star Elton John to fashion designer Valentino her good friends. In the last year, Hurley decided to step up her work as an actress, which is why she now has three films due for release. She’s costar-ring with Sean Penn in The Weight of Water, from Point Break director Kathryn Bigelow. She’ll also appear opposite Denis Leary in Double Whammy, written and directed by Tom DiCillo, who turned out the quirky indie gem Living in Oblivion. Hurley’s biggest film, though, is the comedy Servicing Sara, directed by Reginald Hudlin (The Ladies Man), in which she plays the titular beauty who causes trouble for process server Matthew Perry–who had a bit of trouble of his own during production.

I meet Hurley one morning at her leased house perched atop one of L.A.’s more famous hills. Looking sensational in tight slacks and a T-shirt, she greets me in her driveway with a hug and warmly welcomes me inside in that low, plummy voice that sounds as if she gargles Chambord. Despite the early hour, she is buoyant, supremely together and ready to have at the day. She leads me into her rambling home and we settle on a comfortable couch in the living room. Surrounding us are wraparound mountain views, shelves of expensive art and photography books and framed snapshots of Hurley with her parents, her sister and her beloved now-deceased dog. Occasionally, one of her assistants floats in to make sure we’re well stocked with drinks and tapes. Oh, that’s another thing–tapes. Once I set down my tape recorder on the couch, Hurley, with a flush of embarrassment, sets down one of her own.