Hugh Grant - Personal Life

Personal Life

In 1987, while playing Lord Byron in a Spanish production called Remando Al Viento (1988), Grant met actress Elizabeth Hurley, who was cast in a supporting role as Byron's former lover Claire Clairmont. Grant started dating the aspiring model while shooting and their relationship was subsequently the subject of much media attention. In 1995, Hugh Grant was arrested for "lewd conduct" with a prostitute in Hollywood. At the time, he'd been with Elizabeth Hurley since 1987. After 13 years together, the two made "a mutual and amicable decision" to split in May 2000 Rumoured to have been briefly dating former pantomime actress from the Midlands, Michaela Westbury, from 2003 up until 2004 when he then began dating Jemima Khan under the intense scrutiny of British tabloids. Three years later, in February 2007, Grant's publicist announced that the couple had "decided to split amicably". The spokesman added, "Hugh has nothing but positive things to say about Jemima".

Grant is godfather to Hurley's son Damian. In November 2011, it was announced that Grant had become a father to a baby girl, Tabitha, earlier that autumn. The identity of the mother, with whom Grant had had a "fleeting affair" according to his publicist, was not at first announced; however, it was later revealed to be a Chinese woman, Tinglan Hong. The publicist went on to say that "while this was not planned, Hugh could not be happier or more supportive. He and the mother have discussed everything and are on very friendly terms." In an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in April 2012, Grant revealed that his daughter's Chinese name is Xiao Xi, meaning "happy surprise".

Grant has claimed that Hong has been "badly treated" by the media, saying that press intrusion prevented him from attending the birth of his daughter in September 2011. Grant said, "I was at one of the party conferences, about to give a speech, and was pacing about on the end of the phone. I shouldn’t have gone to the hospital at all, because it brought all this attention down on the mother's head. But I couldn't really resist it, so I went on the second day". Hong later obtained an injunction which allowed Hugh Grant to visit her and baby Tabitha in peace.

A famous "golfing addict", Grant is a scratch golfer and is a regular at pro-am tournaments with membership at the Sunningdale Golf Club. He is also frequently pictured by the paparazzi at the famed Scottish golf courses in St Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie. Highly competitive, he reportedly plays with a lot of money at stake. As a young boy, he played rugby union on his school's first XV team at centre and played football as an avid fan of Fulham F.C.. He is also a fan of Scottish side Rangers F.C. thanks to his grandfather who was Scottish. He continued to play in a Sunday-morning football league in south-west London after college and remains an "impassioned Fulham supporter." Grant's other interests include snooker and tennis.

In 2011, the BBC apologised after Grant made a remark about gay rugby players when he was invited into the commentary box during coverage of an England V Scotland game at Twickenham Stadium. Talking about playing rugby during his school days, Grant said: "I discovered it hurt less if you tackled hard than if you tackled like a queen."