Shane Warne opens up on intense relationship with Liz Hurley: “She was great”
Australian cricketer Shane Warne has opened up about her intense, fiery relationship with actress Liz Hurley.
Warne dated Hurley from 2011 to 2013 after meeting at the races in England and admitted while he was used to the scrutiny of Australian media, there was no preparing for the pressure of UK tabloids.
The Australian leg-spinner says the paparazzi frenzy in the UK was unlike anything he’d experienced and he felt like he was constantly under a microscope.
“When I got together with Elizabeth, that was really odd because I had the sporting media that would follow you then I suppose the entertainment media collide, so everyday, anywhere we went we were followed by anywhere between six to 10 paparazzi photographers that would run you off the road,” Warne said on the You Cannot Be Serious podcast with former AFL Footy Show star Sam Newman, AFL journalist Mike Sheahan and Don Scott.
“They would follow you — stop you, two cars in front of you, make you react … my kids in the car were scared one day too. It was ridiculous.
“Mainly here in Melbourne and it was more intense in the UK.
“Little things like you’d walk out of the house and there’d be six photographers there and I’d have my tracky pants on and a T-shirt and suddenly the next day all the papers would critique you and you’re going, ‘What?’ Who gives a s***, really.
“That was sort of weird but we used to laugh about it. Elizabeth laughed about it, I laughed about it, but it was quite a fun time.”
Warne says the two hit it off instantly when they met at Goodwood Racecourse and revealed he was pretty chuffed when he won the attention of Hurley.
“I was pretty happy with myself, I played it calmly and nicely,” Warne said of their initial meeting on the podcast.
“We crossed paths and hit it off straight away.
“She was lovely, she was fantastic.
“She’s still a very good friend, we still speak all the time. She’s great.”
In his book No Spin, Warne revealed he and the couple still speak all the time.
He said there was no “clear reason” as to why their relationship ended in December, 2013, but it was clear Hurley’s time was completely taken up by her landing a new role on TV series The Royals.
“The more you’re apart, the more you ask questions,” Warne wrote.
“I got jumpy about the time Elizabeth still spent with Hugh Grant … He is her best friend but they saw each other more when I wasn’t around so, well, you know.”
Scroll through the gallery to see Liz Hurley and Shane Warne together.