... the American multi-millionaire - now known as Bing Laden in certain Hurley circles ...

Hehehhe-he ... it's funny because it's true.
posted by RavinDave at 4:40 AM on November 11, 2001

Hrm, why does this remind me of that move. the one with Hugh Grant? You know you know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, yeh the guy's an ass. "Bing Laden" indeed. For god sakes he got to have sex with Liz Hurley! It's not like there's any kind of financial consideration involved, these people are all celebrities.

Fortunetly for Liz, she'll have enough money to take care of the kid, unlike a lot of mothers with deadbeat dads :(
posted by delmoi at 5:10 AM on November 11, 2001

Here's a Steve Bing biography, done in the best of tastes. But, hey, wait a minute: is that an uncredited Elizabeth Hurley in Bing Laden's open arms? Quick, before his lawyers take it down!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 5:41 AM on November 11, 2001

Friends close to Elizabeth tell me that her pregnancy was certainly unplanned and any notion that she tried to "ensnare" Bing is ludicrous. When she told me of her pregnancy, I said it might be a blessing, because otherwise she might never have had children. She replied that it was "fate"...Elizabeth is a responsible adult who simply is not the sort who walks away from a situation because it is not convenient.

"Fate"? No. "Responsible adult"? No. Neither person used birth control.
posted by Carol Anne at 5:52 AM on November 11, 2001

She got pregnant at Sir Elton John's villa near Nice (possibly).

That would certainly narrow down the list of possible fathers.
posted by MAYORBOB at 6:25 AM on November 11, 2001

Like he said, money can buy you a lot of things, but it certainly can't buy you class. Who would want a person like that involved in the upbringing of their child anyway? It sounds like she got away lightly. Thank goodness she has enough money of her own.
posted by Jubey at 6:30 AM on November 11, 2001

The author can't bash on Bing enough because he's American and he's rich. Hurley is the product of a "proper upbringing", yet she shacked up with a guy and didn't use birth control?
posted by Oriole Adams at 7:54 AM on November 11, 2001

im thinking dumb bunny
posted by clavdivs at 8:01 AM on November 11, 2001

She got pregnant at Sir Elton John's villa near Nice (possibly).

Life is so hard.

:::becomes overcome with empathy and compassion and wipes away a tear:::
posted by rushmc at 8:43 AM on November 11, 2001

"Fate"? No. "Responsible adult"? No. Neither person used birth control.

Excuse me, but from where do you draw this conclusion? I certainly didn't see any mention of it in the article.'

Every single method of Birth Control has a failure rate ... some higher, some lower. Condoms, IUD, Pill - you name it. Just because someone has an unplanned pregnancy does not automatically mean that they were being irresponsible. Sometimes, as Ms Hurley says, its just 'Fate'.
posted by anastasiav at 9:00 AM on November 11, 2001

It's not for nothing that Private Eye has referred to the Telegraph as "The Daily Hurleygraph".
posted by pascal at 9:12 AM on November 11, 2001

Liz.. I will raise your child. You can thank me later.
posted by Hildago at 10:45 AM on November 11, 2001

"Fate"? No. "Responsible adult"? No. Neither person used birth control.

Reminds me of a recent Friends episoide. "I used a condom." "But a condom has only a 98% success rate." "What?!? They should print that on the box." "They do." "Well they should do it in big black letters across it."
posted by benjh at 11:23 AM on November 11, 2001

It's rather uncalled for for Cash to judge "American morality" based on the behavior of an ex-president and a millionaire playboy, but Hurley's actions do seem praiseworthy. No doubt she is also sacrificing some career opportunities for her unborn child, as well. And it's good to hear that Grant is being a stand-up friend (or whatever he is to her).
posted by mattpfeff at 11:26 AM on November 11, 2001

What in hell is so praiseworthy about Hurley's actions? She's making sacrifices? Oh puh-lease! Millions of pregnant women make far more serious sacrifices with far more serious ramifications than passing on another craptacular movie or not being able to another Estee Lauder commercial. Praiseworthy? Tis to giggle. Ha. Haha. Hahaha.
posted by Dreama at 11:33 AM on November 11, 2001

I thought Farker Fb- fathered Hurley's baby. At least he seems to have known of her pregnancy two days before it showed up here at MeFi.
posted by tamim at 11:56 AM on November 11, 2001

What in hell is so praiseworthy about Hurley's actions?

To be sure, I'm not inducting her for sainthood, or trying to compare her to any other woman. But, hey, she's going for what she wants and standing up for what she believes is right, the inevitable flack she'll get for it be damned. And the impression I get from the article is that she had sincere feelings for Bing. I can respect all that. That's all.
posted by mattpfeff at 12:28 PM on November 11, 2001

Is that Fark? Yuk! They make us all sound like Marcel Proust.

tamim: It's the farkers who are late, not us. Everybody - even People magazine - knew Hurley was pregnant by Bing. My link is from today's Sunday Telegraph, written by someone who knows her well and contains new information and first-hand knowledge. Specifically the Brits vs.Yanks angle and much else. Read the article. It's only soap but, compared to those farkers, it's literature!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 1:51 PM on November 11, 2001

I can wish she had not had unmarried sex, but I will say I am proud of Elizabeth Hurley for being responsible for her actions, and having the baby. Too bad the sperm donor is being stupid about it.....

on other threads I have been mocked and berated on my views of sex, but this is precisely a situation that shows the confusion that can occur when the modern view is taken.....babies NEED mommies and daddies. (leaving aside the good news that Hugh Grant is being a gentleman about all this)......Birth control under the best of conditions DOES have a failure rate(how many of you know that certain medications such as antibiotics can affect the efficacy of the birth control pill, for example?)......Again, I am not fussing at Ms Hurley here, but she is about to take on the very difficult task of single motherhood-yes, the money she has will help a lot on the practical end, but who said raising a child was only that?????

But again I applaud her willingness to step up to the plate -as I do all the women who are willing to be responsible for all their actions, whether or not those actions are those I wish they had not taken to begin with.

And a hearty handshake to Hugh Grant while I am at it.
posted by bunnyfire at 2:35 PM on November 11, 2001

babies NEED mommies and daddies

No, they NEED air, water, food...they may benefit from having both parental units around during their formative years, but probably millions of children have not had such a circumstance in the history of the species, and the world has yet to end.
posted by rushmc at 8:24 PM on November 11, 2001

I meant need in the emotional sense.

There have been books written on this topic. I didn't invent it.
posted by bunnyfire at 3:37 AM on November 12, 2001

I can wish she had not had unmarried sex

Well, she sure screwed me out of the 9 bucks I paid to see Bedazzled. Talk about your abortions!
posted by Optamystic at 4:32 AM on November 12, 2001

the inevitable flack she'll get for it be damned

What inevitable flack is that? Who is going to give this woman flack for having a baby -- albeit out of wedlock, fathered by an (apparently) abandoning lout? In 2001, are women being castigated publicly for pregnancy? I don't think so.

Good grief.
posted by Dreama at 4:37 AM on November 12, 2001

Who is going to give this woman flack

uh, how about every tabloid reporter and photographer in England? Not to mention the millions of people who'll read about her personal affairs in the papers? Or, let me guess, you think she'll be tickled by having one of her life's most significant decisions dragged through the mud and held up as spectacle for all to gawk at? Not to mention all those heavy-handed moralists who will know all the details of her affairs they care to know and will persist in casting down shallow judgments of her character (and her child's) from on high.
posted by mattpfeff at 6:45 AM on November 12, 2001

I don't call that flack, that's the fallout of becoming a celebrity -- your life and the lives of those around you are discussed in public and hatcheted in tabloids. She got it when Hugh met with Destiny, she got it when she and Hugh broke up after thirteen years together, she got it when she violated the SAG strike and claimed ignorance, and she'll get it now. If that kind of thing affects her, she's in the wrong line of work.
posted by Dreama at 8:49 AM on November 12, 2001

I don't call that flack, that's the fallout of becoming a celebrity

I stand corrected. I should have said, the inevitable fallout she'll get for it be damned.
posted by mattpfeff at 9:57 AM on November 12, 2001

Liz Hurley Indignant at Paternity Slur

British actress Liz Hurley reacted indignantly on Tuesday to a claim by millionaire former lover Steve Bing that he might not be the father of her unborn baby.

"I'm deeply distraught by Stephen Bing publicly declaring that he hadn't been in an 'exclusive relationship' with me,'' she said in a statement issued by Simian Films, the production company she co-owns with another former lover, Hugh Grant.

"This is the first I had heard of this and the implications
are very painful, especially as I am shortly to give birth to
his child.''
posted by mattpfeff at 8:22 AM on December 5, 2001

Real men don't care how old a thread is. By gum, if they've got new information they post to it and damn the consequences.
(swoons)
mattpfeff, my hero!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:52 AM on December 5, 2001