Elizabeth Hurley, the ageless wonder, reveals what she looks for in a man

SHE’S the British beauty who somehow never seems to age. Liz Hurley reveals her secret to news.com.au, and lets us in on what she looks for in a man. Hint: It’s not looks.

IF YOU compare photos of Elizabeth (she hates being called Liz) Hurley from 10 or even 20 years ago to now, it’s hard to tell the difference. You’d never guess she’s just celebrated one of life’s biggest milestones.

“Yes, it was a hideous birthday this year,” she admits to news.com.au. “It’s not a secret that I’m 50!”

“The lucky thing for me is that as well as being in movies and TV, I’ve been in the beauty business with Estee Lauder all that time. So I have been incredibly privileged. I have had the best advisers and products at my fingertips for a long time. But like everybody, everything changes.

“I certainly look different when I’m in the country, when I haven’t been through hair and makeup. On those days I certainly don’t look glamorous at all. But it’s been part of my life having to shape up. I go up and down in weight, like everybody, and I definitely go through stages of looking after myself better at some times than others, but it’s very much been a part of my career to have to look after myself,” she says. “I think having that discipline has helped quite a lot.”

30/08/2005: Elizabeth Hurley (Liz Hurley) at David Jones city store in Sydney.

Model / actor Elizabeth Hurley in advertisement for Estee Lauder cosmetics & perfume Advertising / Cosmetic / Perfumes Hurley/Actor

While her beauty is undeniable, it’s Hurley’s romantic track record that keeps her in the headlines. And it’s been that way for nearly 30 years.

“I was 21 when I started dating Hugh (Grant), and soon after I had my 22nd birthday with him. He’s five years older than me and we were together through our formative years so we went through a lot together,” she explains. “We met on a Spanish movie, in 1987 [Rolling with the Wind]. I was just a baby, I’d only been working for a few years. We stepped into the spotlight together and we both made money after we had got together. We did everything together really. Those formative years, no one can ever take away from you. And however annoying we find each other at times, we’re fine. We are bonded and that’s not nothing.”

It’s a surprising friendship. During their 13-year relationship, which ended in 2000, Hugh Grant was arrested for lewd contact with a prostitute whom he picked up on LA’s Sunset Boulevard. Hurley adds, earnestly. “We’re like family, we’re like brother and sister. You don’t blow away your family.”

AUGUST 10, 1999 : Actors Hugh Grant & girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley arrive at Odeon Cinema in London's Leicester Square, for premiere of film

It remains to be seen whether she has sustained a friendship with all of her exes, including Aussie cricket legend, Shane Warne to whom she got engaged to in 2011. They bought an organic farm together in the Cotswolds for six million pounds, but split in 2013. She has since bought out his share.

“We bought a house because we thought it would be nice to buy together and I have only just sold it,” she says. The sale topped out at a hefty nine million pounds.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 12: Shane Warne and Elizabeth Hurley pose as they attend the launch of the Shane Warne Foundation's Ambassador Program at Club 23 on November 12, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

When considering Hurley’s romantic track record — including her three-year marriage to Indian textile heir, Arun Naya, which ended in 2010 — it seems she’s attracted to men who are not considered conventionally attractive, Hugh Grant aside (sorry Warnie).

“What I have always found is that people you might not think are particularly good-looking when you first meet them, when you start to like them or love them, you always see a beauty in them. It could be the distance between their nose and their lip, it could be the back of their head. You always find a beauty in something you like or love,” she smiles.

“I have always quite liked people who know things in a different field to me. I have always found that attractive. My husband Arun, for example, he went to Oxford where he did physics. He was a scientist, whereas I would have got one per cent in my physics and chemistry exams in school so it’s very nice to me when someone has expertise in a different field to me. I quite like that.”

But these days it seems there is only one man in her life — her son Damian. The 13-year-old is the product of her short-lived relationship with American businessman, Steve Bing.

Elizabeth Hurley’s teenage son Damian isn’t embarrassed of his mother yet. And rightly so, when your mum is Elizabeth Hurley. Picture: Instagram.

Although he’s at the age when most children are embarrassed by their parents, Hurley is happy hers still shows no sign of it. “He still thinks I’m fabulous! I know it could change at any second and he’s changing in other ways, like his voice has just broken.” She laughs. “Everybody who I talk to about him says, ‘Just wait.’ So, I have got some challenging years ahead but right now he’s still enchanting. And you know, I am a single parent and he is a single child of a single parent so we have a very close bond in that respect.”

“Actually, about the embarrassing thing, it’s almost me saying to him now, ‘You’d better drop my hand,’ when we are just heading into school. But he says, ‘I don’t care.’ So, I am lucky today. It could change tomorrow, and I am very aware.”

Hurley is in LA to promote her upcoming TV show, The Royals, in which she’s a fictional British queen consort whose family members find themselves in scandalous situations.

Elizabeth Hurley plays a naughty Queen in The Royals. Picture: Facebook.

Clearly, she relishes her regal role. “It’s a bit like dressing up like a little girl because when my family or friends were young, we all dressed up as princesses and princes or queens and slaves. My little brother always had to be my footman, so he always had to walk behind me holding a velvet cushion,” she recalls laughing. Joan Collins plays her sassy mother, the Grand Duchess of Oxford. “I can’t think of anyone I would rather have as my mother.” She laughs. “She’s still so beautiful, but still quite scary.”

And if Hurley could reign over her own kingdom, what would it look like? “It would be my house in Herefordshire with the dogs and the cats and the parrot and the toys everywhere. I’d put my hair in a ponytail, put on minimum makeup, Ugg boots and a scruffy track suit. Just very, very, very relaxed!”

Elizabeth Hurley is a natural on the farm. Picture: Instagram.

Originally published as Elizabeth Hurley, the ageless wonder, reveals what she looks for in a man