Elizabeth Hurley and Hugh Grant were both up-and-coming actors when they met on the production of the 1988 Spanish film Rowing in the Wind. In this film, Grant played the romantic icon Lord Byron.
Hurley joked in an interview that “Hugh looked especially nice in the cream-colored pants.” “But I think I may have liked him anyway. We bonded right away. He made me laugh.”
The longtime couple appeared to be simultaneously catapulted into global stardom, with Grant, who broke out with his role in 1994’s Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Hurley, already a major model at the time, with her now-iconic Versace safety-pin gown that she wore to the film’s London premiere.
So why wasn’t the world shocked when Grant was arrested in June 1995 for indecent acts with a prostitute (he was subsequently sentenced to two years’ probation after pleading no contest) and the promotional tour for the heartwarming rom-com Nine Months turned into an apology tour?
However, Hurley stood by him, including at the film’s premiere, and Grant said on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that “she was really supportive and we’re trying to work things out,” and they eventually stayed together until 2000.
“I loved everything I did, and somehow I think I have great friends, great family,” Hurley said on Larry King Live in 2000, reflecting on his high spirits after the scandal. “So it all worked out in the end.”
