Celebrity Mound

Elizabeth Hurley, Sir Elton John and Liza Minnelli

Jane Krakowski

Not so long ago she declared that she was done with bikinis.

Never again, Elizabeth Hurley said, would she sit eating lunch on a boat in a skimpy two-piece.

The same went for tripping around the beach in a bikini top and skirt with her midriff showing.

But as these pictures indicate, Miss Hurley will relax the rules under certain conditions.

Firstly, it must be in her best business interests, such as helping to launch a series of her own swimwear designs in a diffusion range for the High Street store Mango.

And there must – read must – be an airbrush involved.

In an interview to accompany these photographs in the Sunday Times Style magazine, the model and businesswoman conceded that “shooting bikinis is now my life”.

She said: “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.”

But, she revealed, she now relies on “nice photographers” and a little digital enhancement.

“I like a certain amount of retouching like anybody,” she admitted.

Even if they have been airbrushed a little, the photos suggest that Miss Hurley, 42, has made good on her promise to “go to ground and annoy everyone by emerging thinner, sexier and mentally cleansed”.

She made that vow in an interview in 2005, at the same time as she spoke of instituting her bikini ban.

Miss Hurley, a mother of one, revealed that when she looked in the mirror she saw “a person who eats too much junk food and doesn’t exercise. That has sadly become my reality over the past year”.

Commenting on one of her own designs for Elizabeth Hurley Beach, she said her days of wearing a towelling miniskirt, bikini top and flip-flops were over.

“I don’t feel comfortable doing that any more,” she said. “As the years go by you do feel less confident about your body.”

Miss Hurley is not afraid to follow strict diets when she needs to drop weight fast.

Her regime after the birth of son Damian, now six, was punishing, she said at the time.

“I did it by eating very little breakfast and not too much lunch.

“And only boring snacks such as a banana or six raisins. The only meal I have is dinner.”

She lost four stone, and was back in her trademark white jeans within three months of Damian’s birth.

(source)

Another day, another pregnancy rumor. This time, Liz Hurley is at the center of speculation. When her longtime friend Elton John ran up to Hurley at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s Hottest Pink Party Ever in NYC on April 8, Life & Style magazine reports that John then “rubbed her tummy,” and he raised his eyebrows.

“Elton kissed and hugged Elizabeth and congratulated Arun,” a witness told the magazine. “They seemed to be giggling over their little secret.” Hurley also wore a tummy-covering sari to the event and, said the witness, abstained from alcohol.

If the magazine is off the mark, it might be time for a denial or at least a dress with a waistline.

ELIZABETH Hurley and her husband, Arun Nayar, are multimillionaires many times over, but they’re also accused of being skinflints – paying their Indian maid just $200 a week for endless hours of cooking, cleaning and baby-sitting, according to published reports.

Violet D’Souza, 31, accused the “Austin Powers” star and her spouse of forking over as little as $2.33 an hour for as many as 70 hours of work a week in the couple’s fashionable Chelsea (London) home, Britain’s Mirror and Daily Mail both reported. Adding insult to injury, they allegedly paid her in the Indian currency of rupees.

D’Souza was set to take her case to an employment tribunal today – but the hearing was canceled at the 11th hour late yesterday after the distressed domestic was offered a five-figure settlement, according to the newspapers.

Hurley’s lawyer, Jake Bloom, had no comment for Page Six, and her agent, Allison Band, did not return our call.

The London reports say d’Souza worked up to seven days a week, with her chores starting at 7:30 a.m. and sometimes lasting until 3 the next morning, with Hurley and Nayar rewarding her with a weekly 8,000 rupees. The equivalent hourly rate worked out to between $2.72 and $3.10, but was sometimes as low as $2.33 if she worked lengthy hours. In Britain, the legal minimum wage is $10.71.

Hurley, 42, is believed to be worth $25 million from acting and modeling, while Nayar, 43, is an heir to a fabulously rich Indian textiles family in Mumbai. D’Souza is believed to have worked for the family before Nayar brought her to London in 2003. She brought an action of breach of contract after being dismissed by the couple last August.

A spokesman for Kingsway Tribunal Center, where the case was to be heard, said yesterday, “We can confirm that the claim has been withdrawn and the pre-hearing review has been canceled but cannot discuss the reasons.”

Hurley, who wed Nayar last March, has a 5-year-old son by billionaire businessman Steve Bing named Damian, whose godparents include Elton John, Hugh Grant, Denis Leary, Victoria and David Beckham and the late Heath Ledger.

LIZ Hurley and Hugh Grant are still great friends. The photogenic Brits dated for 13 years before splitting in 2000. Hurley married Indian businessman Arun Nayar last March. Grant had a long affair with heiress Jemima Goldsmith Khan. But both Liz and Hugh attended a dinner party Sunday night at the Upper East Side townhouse of fashion designer Valentino, along with Anne Hathaway and Raffaello Follieri.

(source)

Elizabeth Hurley and Rachel Weisz

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Designer Liz Lange