The sexiest part of a woman’s body, according to the actress, model, mogulette
and all-round 100% British sexport Elizabeth Hurley, is . . . “her back”,
she says, her voice one long, cool drink of cream. “I just love
it. If I’m at a party and I see an amazing backless dress, it’s beautiful.
Most women have pretty good backs, I think. It’s a good way to be sexy: a
dress with no back.”
After all, when it comes to sexy, there’s nobody who knows it better than Liz.
The woman who has built a career out of sensuous outfits – the plunging
Versace safety-pin dress, the knicker-revealing scarlet show-stopper she
wore to a country wedding, the 6in fetish footwear for the cover of Pop
magazine – is, to this day, polished, pert, voluptuous and, almost
certainly, over and above that stupendously banging body, very naughty.
(“Bed?” she hoots at one point, leaning back with a smile. “I don’t wear
anything!”) Even this morning, straight off the redeye from New York and
still wearing yesterday’s make-up (“Estée Lauder party, I’m afraid to say”),
she manages to look like a hot head girl in a bomber jacket, a stripy top,
sky-high Dolce & Gabbana snakeskin sandals and tight jeans that more
than once fetchingly reveal a flash of lacy turquoise thong.
“Well, actually, I’m pretty scruffy today,” she says with a shrug, pushing
back a lock of hair and ordering a nonfat cappuccino (“Make sure they get it
right – you have to tell them about five times”) from a sofa in the master
suite of No 11 Cadogan Gardens in Chelsea. “I simply need to make much more
effort,” she continues, earnestly furrowing her delicate brow, as if reading
her report card. Not unlike a St Trinian’s schoolgirl: sweetly conservative
and well-mannered, but probably game for a snog later on. (She replied to
one journalist, who revealed to her that they’d snogged back in the 1980s,
“We snogged? How fantastic! Did we have sex? Did we?” They didn’t.)
But back to clothes. “I wear jeans seven days a week,” she continues in that
luscious posh accent, all pearly white, straight teeth – if the overnight
flight reading “really violent American thrillers” has exhausted her, she’s
too polite to show it. “I own tons of them” – she has, in the past,
confessed to 30 white pairs alone – “I mean, tons. I’m
happiest in jeans and a T-shirt, unless I’ve put on a bit of weight, then
I’ll go to dresses immediately. I’m not really as stylish as I should be.”
She does, however, “always wear high heels; I don’t have any flat shoes. But
I never go shopping. I mean, I went shopping for five minutes yesterday in
New York, but I don’t have any spare time. I’d love to go shopping”.
Good thing she has plenty of bikinis, then. “I’ve got thousands,” she says.
“Obviouslah. Although, whenever I go on holiday, I never seem to have any.”
She has been doing bikinis under her own name, Elizabeth Hurley Beach, for
three years now; and this summer, she is diversifying with a diffusion line
for Mango. Unsurprisingly, the idea for the collaboration arose at a party.
“I met the Mangos at Valentino’s big party last summer,” she purrs. “They
said they loved my beachwear, so I drew [some designs] very badly. We did
some fittings in Barcelona, then they sent a whole team to my house in the
country for a ‘bikini fit’, which is the most extraordinary thing. When I
first started my company, Arun [her financier husband, whom she married last
year] came with me to a big swimwear factory near Rimini. I was so
embarrassed: in walked the 6ft model in a nude thong, so poor Arun was like
. . . whoosh, bloody hell! And then you have to fit the bikini, which means”
– she stands up – “you’re probably on your knees and you’re pinning the
crotch, fitting the crotch, saying, ‘Shall we do that? This? A bit more
coverage on the bottom?’ I was so embarrassed, touching this girl. I used to
go hot and cold, but now it’s part of the job.”
Hurley herself is apparently looking forward to the moment she never has to
pose in a bikini again (although one fashion editor reports, “She is very
confident in her body – I turned around and suddenly she was naked”).
“Shooting bikinis is now my life, which, as you can imagine, is unmitigated
hell,” she says, in her golly-gosh diction, which is peppered with words
like “unpleasant-making” and “jolly”. “I can’t think of anything worse in
the world than another bikini shoot – and I’ve got two next month. It’s
unbearable, and I bring it all on myself. I’ve got nobody else to blame.
It’s literallah torture. If you get a photographer you don’t know, of
course, you think, ‘Oh God.’ But if you signed on for the gig, sadly, you
have to go and be jolly in a skimpy white bikini. So I now rely on nice
photographers, and a bit of retouching.”
Ah, yes, digital retouching. “I like a certain amount of retouching, like
anybody,” she admits cautiously. “We all like to get rid of spots and
shadows under our eyes. I’ve always been quite particular – I don’t like my
face to be retouched. Often, people will want to correct one’s face, and
with me, they always want to change my nose” – she squishes it – “and I’m
like, ‘No, no, no, I can’t look like that. I don’t mind if you want to make
me a bit thinner and a bit younger, but you can’t give me a different jaw or
eyebrows.’ But the vanity retouching – well, who wouldn’t?”
Hilariously, Hurley’s retouching habit extends to her holiday photos. “I don’t
have professional Photoshop, just the one that comes with your camera,” she
says. “Every time I download my holiday snaps” – she lowers her voice for
effect – “I always go over them. Just the red eye and colour enhancement. I
don’t do any slimming, because you need a silly programme, but the colour
enhancing is heaven.”
For all her worries about her physical appearance – she’s deliciously prudish
in her speech, primly using words such as “bust” and “bottom” where fellow
sloanes Trinny and Susannah might favour more direct terminology – Hurley
remains very tidy. Her legs are toned alabaster; her stomach flat. She is
elegantly vague about the amount of exercise she does. “I don’t go to the
gym, but I intend to,” she says cutely, before explaining that one of her
wedding presents, a Power Plate, is still in its box at home in
Gloucestershire, but an instructor is coming round to show her how to use it
vah, vah soon.
“The biggest change at 40 is that you can’t stay vah slim with yoga, Pilates
or stretching alone,” she says. “Previously, I didn’t do much more – if
that. Over 40, you have to do something aerobic, unless you don’t eat much,
but I eat lots.” A treat, for the record, is something “salty and meaty – a
bacon and sausage sandwich”, she trills. “Cauliflower cheese. Cottage pie.
Baby food, really. I don’t have it very often. But [physically] there’s no
comparison with six years ago – I’m much heavier now. Before Damian [her
six-year-old son with Hollywood billionaire Steve Bing] I chain-smoked,
which is an appetite suppressant. Now, if I put on any weight, it looks
different. Because you’ve been big, and your skin has stretched, you have to
watch it. And you have to sleep more. I don’t get anything like enough.”
Quite. Hurley is, after all, a good, old-fashioned workaholic. The daughter of
a schoolteacher and an army major, she grew up in Basingstoke and arrived in
London in her late teens as a dancer. (Back home, she had been an unlikely
member of a troupe called the Vestal Virgins.)
“I am, by nature, a workaholic. I have to fight the urge,” says Hurley, who
has removed all WiFi transmitters from her home, a farm in Gloucestershire,
and put them in the stable block. (An acquaintance reports: “She’s bloody
hard-working – and never does or says anything that doesn’t benefit the
business.”) She’s moving to the country full-time “today”, she
says, to concentrate more on her burgeoning organic-food business (yes,
that, too). “I feel exactly the same on the farm,” she says, “but my stress
comes from not being entirely confident I can run my company from there. My
plan is to spend one night a week here, with two three-quarter days either
side of it.” She worked flat out to set up her business – often, they say,
controlling stock on the computer herself – but it was nothing like movie
producing. “That was a very intense time for Hugh [Grant] and me. We were
everywhere. That was a huge amount of work. I rarely work at weekends now –
it has to be a big deal – and I rarely work at night.”
Grant, her former boyfriend of 13 years, is still a close friend. “I saw him
about three minutes ago. He is still very much involved in my life – he’s
Damian’s godfather. I think he’s coming to stay with us this weekend, in
fact,” she says. “He gets on very well with Arun” – who, incidentally,
Damian calls “Dad”, even though he is fully aware that he is not is his
biological father. “Hugh’s someone I trust enormously. I still very much use
him as my sounding board: it’s important to work with someone who you’re not
worried about sounding like a prat in front of. We’re very lucky we have
that – and I’m incredibly lucky he gets on well with my husband.”
She doesn’t, however, advise him on his relationships. “We don’t do love life
really – we just do business. I’m always trying to persuade Hugh to work –
do a movie, do a movie, say yes. I just love people to be busy: I think
everyone needs to be busy.”
With level of touching up you might as well get Patrick Moore to do the shoots
Simon , Richmond, England
I believe she refers to non-celebrities as "civilians".
Simon , Richmond, England
She should rake it in while she can. Can't see her getting asked to do bikini shots for much longer. Mind you, with that level of airbrushing maybe not.
Nick, Sunny Sale, Leafy Cheshire
I'm amazed at how few people actually read what is written nowadays.
Philippa, London,
Definitely airbrushed. The forehead has been moved down, eyebrows up and exaggerated for that youthful, early 80's look. May not have been Hurley's choice- I don't find her attractive, but she in her natural state would be perfectly adequate for these shots. Photos are like illustration.
Melissa, London,
well she's richer than all of you probably. lets be honest.
phoebe, london, uk
The Telegraph, Barry?
Oonagh, Hong Kong,
I prefer John Presscott
anne marie, Paris, france
Just caught Elizabeth Hurley in a replay of the shagadelic Austen Powers on TV. She's such a fantastic foil for Mike Meyers' louche Austen... Very funny too.
Elan Durham, Santa Monica, CA/US
A revealing thong is so 2003.... nobody does it anymore other than attention seeking high school girls. I don't see Liz Hurley as much of an icon, let alone stunning, just a wannabe who didn't get very far in her career.
Eclair, london, UK
doesn't Liz H just look fabulous...good enough to eat!!! where's that chocolate sauce...
phil, york,
She looks great but then everyone would if they could be airbrushed in such a way.
Can't imagine she has anything interesting to say so I skipped the text.
Amy, Southampton, UK
If you believe this is the real Liz Hurley then you will also believe that elephants can fly! She obviously needs the money and is always actively " available" . Now , that is what i call a workaholic.
Peter, Copenhagen, Denmark
I confess - as soon as download my holiday snaps onto Picasa I press 'Warmify' and 'Glow' - so flattering! At last I have something in common with La Liz.
Cindy, London, UK
So why did you choose to read this article then Douglas?!
J, Bristol,
She looks rather plastic to me ... kinda like those characters in the movie 300. She's probably a pretty woman underneath the mask, but we'll never know.
Brian Payne, St. John's, Canada
Liz would NEVER allow herself to be "airbrushed" because she has too much pride in herself. As someone who knows her personally, I felt compelled to set the record straight and defend this marvellous woman.
Rupert, Kensington, UK
But Rupert, she has admitted these are airbrushed. See, for all your "I know her personally" you haven't a clue what you're talking about. I find it hilarious that all the comments from "Liz is wonderful" brigade on here all assume they know her, when you in fact don't. And you all presume that any comment that criticises her is born of jealousy. Why do you choose to do that? What are you missing in your tiny brains that makes you incapable of understanding that if I think she's an over-airbrushed dreadful actress who is ok looking but nothing special, it's not jealousy speaking, it's out of a knowledge and appreciation of those women who are great actresses, are famous because of what they have achieved and not who their boyfriend was, and are beautiful.
Laura Roberts, London, UK
Oh stop knocking her. I think she's lovely and intelligent and funny, and well grounded. OK maybe her films haven;'t been the berst, but she has lit them up for sure. And I'm female ! I think she is a real role model for young women.
She's pretty damn fabulous and reminds me of Joan Collins, she works hard, and works hard at being glamourous. May not be all of our goals, but you have to admire it i reckon. She's got class, like Ms Lumley. And she represents what is best as English womanhood to the world.
And as for the airbrushing, well a friend admited to me recently that she had got rid of a few "experience lines" from some pics she'd taken of me, before she sent them to me. Didn't mind at all - and thought it was quite funny. Let's face it is hard enough for any woman to get older, for a beautiful woman it is much harder. Rather an airbrush than plastic surgury so she looks like one of those plastic frozen LA specimens !
Long may she grace our media !
sandra, london,
Yes but who exactly is Camila Long? A life long friend?
Max, Vancouver,
Can I say something? I saw Liz Hurley in Los Angeles once and she was positively a goddess... I have never met JK Rowling but was also sort of bowled over by the number of negative comments I read in this forum about her wealth. Celebrity news is a part of life; if you don't like it--go away. I for one am somewhat jealous--but not ghastly green--over Hurley's phenomenal ability to juggle beauty, brains and industry. Go Liz and best wishes.
Elan Durham, Santa Monica, CA/US
Let this alpha woman serve as an object lesson to the women of the UK that it's possible to have a successful career, a brain **AND** maintain drop-dead gorgeous looks well into your middle age! Letting yourselves go is simply out of the question these days. Girls, respect yourselves and keep up the daily gym routine. No matter how successful you may be, if you're fat you're a loser at the end of the day - and boys will be boys, so maintaining your looks has become the sine qua non in today's image-based society. As a feminist, I know that men are always going to regard women primarily as sex objects, so if we want to be respected and desired, we're obliged to constantly groom, refine and enhance our looks. This applies not merely to celebrities, but in the society we live in today, to ordinary people too. We most constantly strive to achieve physical perfection.
Mandy, London, UK
The most beautiful British woman of all time and one of the top 10 loveliest in the world right now. She and Hugh Grant really should have gotten married and they'd have had the most adorable children together. They seem made for each other. Alas, that was not to be, and seeing her now, Hugh must be regretting it! No wonder he's still a "close friend". The elegance, grace, class and poise of this lady is simply breath-taking - and oh, that posh English voice! Heaven is missing an angel. PS: Love the new "Asiatic" look! All rise for the real Queen Elizabeth of England...
Bradley P. Stone, Los Angeles, California, USA
I see a tremendous amount of jealousy here, and I can confirm from personal experience, having met Liz Hurley on numerous occasions, that she's not only the most charming, well-mannered lady in the country, she's also even more ravishing in real life than these rather deceptive photos would lead one to believe. How she manages to juggle her life, art, work, family, business, investments and attendance of official functions so successfully while finding time to maintain such a divine, otherworldly appearance is frankly unfathomable and should be an inspiration and role model for every woman. She is truly the superwoman of our times. The strength and dignity of her character rises far above the petty, envious comments blurted out by a posse of ghastly, green with envy distractors. Liz would NEVER allow herself to be "airbrushed" because she has too much pride in herself. As someone who knows her personally, I felt compelled to set the record straight and defend this marvellous woman.
Rupert, Kensington, UK
Less Liz Hurley than Lara Croft, such is the computer enhancement. Come on Times, get with it - I'd be quite happy to see a 'fit' 40+ year old doing her bit for (non)age discrimination but I don't want to see a 42 year old pretending with the help of an airbrush that she's 21. Sad, very sad!
Clint, Brighton, UK
What a waste of time...
I did not want to waste more to read this report but I would like to express my disappointment with this newspaper.
This woman, she is fit and what? She is workaholic but married a multi millionaire, had a child, now is divorced, so what?
What does she did beyond celebrity cult? Shallow people, shallow culture...
Lucia, Rio de Janeiro/London,
"... jeans that more than once fetchingly reveal a flash of lacy turquoise thong." Very classy. I thought that look went out with the sixteen year olds about five years ago.
Edgar, London, UK
Oh my, those pictures are airbrushed. Sexy? Stylish? Liz Hurley? We are talking about one of the worst actresses this country has ever produced, a woman so completely contrived her dress style is nearly as bad a Victoria Beckham's. She wears the same damn thing on every red carpet: plunging neckine, split up the leg, show show show that flesh because there's nothing else going on with her. Liz Hurley is utterly tiresome, untalented and uninteresting.
Helen E. , London, UK
this women is obsessed with 'poshness'. Im sure all of her comments are motivated by this pursuit for class eg a ladies back is the best part of her body . She just doesnt want to appear typical and as for sloane she is no sloane. Only a wannabe. At her age its pathetic and lookswise shes fake too. she thinks shes breathtakingly beautiful but shes just plain pretty. that all
sedoo, london, uk
"lingo"?
What public school was that then, "Name withheld"? The one next door to the public baths?
What a little crosspatch you are.
Wilton, Singapore,
"This woman has stared in a few rather awful films"
B Lucas, Carcassonne, France
I thought "Bedazzeled" with her was far better than Peter Cook's original and she's better looking than him anyway.
EB, Manchester, UK
If make-up is accepted, dyeing of hair is accepted, plastic surgery has become acceptable then what is wrong with air-brushing? It causes no damage to the environment or the victim, as it is performed by a geek sitting in an office. Perhaps the final result should be refferred to as ' based on an original photograph of.....'
Vinay Mehra, Purley, Surrey
It's the bright pink bikini...in particular the 'bottoms' that looks all wrong to me...all a bit too blurred...but then I'm over 40, and definitely all a bit too blurred m'self...
Miss Hurley, fabulous.
hazellove, Brighton, UK
My son Jonathan says Miss Hurley is over-dressed, but then he would do.
Rodney Barker, Gainsborough, England UK
I would have expected dark muttering about "photoshop" and some miaowing from the ladies corner but from the boys.........oh dear, oh dear.
Shirley, London,
Ah yes, "a bit of retouching". Surely no-one really believes that these pictures are a realistic depiction of Liz Hurley as she looks today. The images have obviously been electronically manipulated, air-brushed and heaven knows what else to such an extent that they're more reminiscent of a Barbie cartoon than a flesh-and-blood woman. If you want to sing the praises of older women, show them as they are. One real woman with a few imperfections is infinitely more attractive than a plastic doll.
Paul , Zurich ,
clearly airbrushed to within an inch of her life.
kate, darlington,
Must admit she looks good, but then there are some very good people out there with Photoshop!
Nige, Denby,
Terrific
Peter, Norwich, UK
So Ms Hurley doesn't work in the evenings nor at weekends. How exactly is she then a 'workaholic'???
TA Col, London,
Forget about Liz Hurley.
My wife is much better looking in a bikini.
See www.missbrazil.com.au
gene, Sydney,
If you took the headling from many of these articles on older women folks would struggle to put a name to them - they look so different with botox etc.
Anne, Dunfermline,
What a non-story, middle aged woman famous for doing nothing of any note, would love to see the photos before airbrushing.....
Les Riv, London,
Sorry ladies this is a male thing you simply wouldnt get it.......
Awesome............................
Mike, Leeds, UK
She'd look better in a burkha than a bikini.
Chris, Ashford., Middx, UK
This woman is typical of someone who has grown up in the army - she has ideas above her station. Those of us that actually did attend public schools do not use her lingo: "beastly".... "heavenly" ... "loathesome" etc. She has been very lucky to get where she has. Quite why anyone would fork out for one of her bikinis when you can get nicer, cheaper ones on the high street is beyond me.
Name withheld, London, UK
Delightful, I wish I was in it with her!!
Rodney Barker, Gainsborough, England UK
Liz Hurley - who cares! Overrated - over airbrushed ('gorgeous' ???) Why are the sunday supplements so obsessed by these vacuous 'career' women? Its insulting and no one has a crotch that looks like that....
James , Liverpool,
This really is scraping the bottom of the barrel. This woman has stared in a few rather awful films and apart from her association with Hugh Grant what else has she done of note? She has got a great body and I believe that is as far as it goes. And as for posh - you are joking - Basingstoke???
B Lucas, Carcassonne, France
She's well fit.
John, London,
Why interview this dull workaholic? She appears to have no life whatsoever. Which is probably what happens (see Madonna) when every minute of your time is spent on looking twenty years younger. Interesting women with lives, ideas, culture, fat, and wrinkles please!!
Sally R., London, UK
I pleased to see her star on the rise again, now that Damien's no longer a baby. I don't think her stature as a goddess was ever in doubt.
I do hope though, that her "snakeskin" sandals are synthetic. I don't think she'd want to fall foul with the snake-lovers amongst her public.
Mark Time, Glasgow, Scotland
I am so fed up with celebrity adoration, fawning, grovelling. Who cares how many bikinis she owns, or how she lost weight. If I had my way the word "celebrity" would be banned, and all mention of them put on 1 page in any paper, near the rear. It would be nice to read the paper, and even find 1 page which does not feature celebrities, or fabulously wealthy individuals. I don't care about them, how they live, or what they do. I just want NEWS!
Douglas Hendry, Wallingford, Oxfordshire
Simply georgeous.
David, Johannesburg, South Africa.
A 40 year old with the perfect body of all ages. I am in awe.
Jeff, Manchester,
Mmm..she wears that well!
William, London,