Could Billy Ray Cyrus be 'missing puzzle piece' in Liz Hurley's tragic love life?

When Liz Hurley stepped onto the red carpet in that Versace safety-pin dress in 1994, she became one of the ’s most desirable women. She was a natural fit for the era of the The Supermodel: Stunningly good looking the figure to match - anything but relatable to the average woman on the street.

But over the decades Liz has also done the near impossible - she’s won herself a strong army of female fans. And she’s confident she knows why: Because, just like us mere mortals, she’s no stranger to heartbreak. “Most well-known women, if they are glamour pusses, have a male audience,” she once noted. “I’ve always had a much, much bigger female fan base than male. I’ve had so many knocks, that it means women are friendly to me.” However, as she turns 60 in a matter of weeks, could Liz’s self-described bad luck in love be about to change?

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This Easter, she got into the spirit of new beginnings when she made a somewhat shock decision to go “instagram official” with her surprising new boyfriend, the one and only Kentucky crooner with his own checkered love life, Billy Ray Cyrus. The line-dancing 63-year-old country star - and father of - was wearing bunny ears as he kissed a beaming and ageless Liz tenderly in the photo. So could he really be the one to help her past her years of achy breaky heartaches?

The unlikely couple first met on the set of 2022 film in Paradise and Liz hinted at an ongoing closeness last month when she posted a video of herself dancing in a bikini while one of his songs. But the weekend’s big reveal has drawn mixed reactions.

One fan posted: “Who else totally did not have this one on their 2025 bingo card?”, the ‘Are You Kidding Me Right Now’ memes were flying and her only son Damian, 23, meanwhile left a supportive love heart emoji alongside a celebration emoji under the post. Meanwhile, best friend Trinny Woodall posted: “Happy Easter, my darling. I hope you’re having the best time.”

It’s a sentiment many fans will echo. Because whether it be the late millionaire Steve Bing who initially refused to accept paternity of their son Damien or the late Australian legend Shane Warne who once publicly spoke of his regret about their relationship, it’s been a difficult time for Liz. The bad luck started, of course, with Hugh Grant, now 64.

It was at his premiere for that she wore that dress and became the overnight name on everyone’s lips. Hugh Grant’s career took off - and it took Liz along too for the ride. But fame’s curse was heartbreak. Less than a year later she was left humiliated after Hugh was notoriously arrested for picking up a Hollywood streetwalker Divine Brown. It was a blow to Liz - who had shunned most male attention before meeting Hugh.

Born on June 10 1965 in Basingstoke, Hampshire, her parents were teacher Angela and Roy who served in the , Liz was actually a young rebel: she hated sounded so much posher than her schoolmates and rebelled in a bid to “fit in.” That also meant becoming less attractive and “more punk”. She explained: “So many men took an interest, I wanted to make myself look as ghastly as possible. I did not want them to whistle any more. That was part of my rebellion — and fitting in with the others.”

But after moving to London, Liz enrolled in a dance and theatre course and realised that in order to find work, she would need to say goodbye to the nose ring and mohawk. Aged 22, she met Hugh Grant on the set of 1987 Spanish movie Remando al Viento. The pair swiftly moved in together, sharing a tiny flat in London. Both struggled getting acting work which Hugh, now 64, has since described as a time which “bonded them for life”.

But by 1994 things would change for both of them. Liz remembers Hugh first seeing her in the dress. In a 2024 interview Liz revealed: “When he (Hugh) saw me in it for the first time he just went ‘Christ!’.” And so did the rest of the world.

Liz had arrived. The modelling and acting jobs flew in and soon she landed her first major role as in the film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. But her personal life was in free fall.

Notting Hill star Hugh had been in LA promoting his film Nine Months when he took a cruise down Hollywood Boulevard and was caught by police in a car with sex worker Divine Brown. Liz and Hugh were on and off for years but it was a humiliation the relationship could never fully survive. They eventually called it quits in May 2000, although they remained close friends.

In October that year, Liz had appeared to move on - when she was pictured kissing the late millionaire businessman Steve Bing at an Elton John concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden. A year later they too had split - and this was even messier. Steve had a new girlfriend, Brenda Swanson, when Liz announced in November 2001 that she was pregnant.

She took him to court for child support, only for him to tell the world it was her “choice to be a single mother” while denying reports he had cheated on her because they did not have an “exclusive” relationship. He also challenged whether he was the father at all. Unsurprisingly the mother-to-be was said to be “deeply distraught” at her ex’s ungallant implication that she had other lovers and was simply looking for her payday.

Damian Hurley was born April 4, 2002 with Liz’s ex Hugh as Godfather. Months later, DNA tests showed that Steve Bing was the father of Liz Hurley’s son. By that time, the damage was done. Liz refused his offer of £1.8m in “financial provision” for Damian, saying that his money was now “not wanted or welcome”.

Women cheered Liz’s strength and resilience and we hoped she had met her happy ever after in dashing Indian businessman Arun Nayar. After five years of dating she married textiles heir and businessman Arun in March 2007 in not one, but two lavish events - a Christian ceremony held at and the second a Hindu ceremony at the Umaid Bhawan Palace hotel in Jodhpur, India.

Liz and Arun settled into an idyllic family life running a 400-acre organic farm together in Barnsley, In 2010 she told journalists how happy she was. “Arun is astonishingly good-natured and would be the last man on earth to feel overshadowed by me,” she said.

Later that year they had split. She fell into the arms of Warne, and her divorce was finalised a year later. She cited Nayar’s “unreasonable behaviour”. Just like with Hugh, they remain good friends to this day - but in terms of a relationship, it was not to be.

In the aftermath of the divorce, Liz was determined to put on a brave face. She told a US magazine at the time that she was “coping quite well” and “trying to move forward. “My husband [Nayar] and I had the most amicable divorce in the world and my lawyer said it was the cheapest case she’d ever handled because neither of us wanted anything,” she said.

But it was not a seamless as she might have many believe. Arun had played a big part in son Damian’s formative early years. And her son’s attachment to Arun was clear when in 2023 Damian posted a picture of the three of them reunited at a ’s Eve party, captioned, “MAMA & DADDY.” And it was not long after the divorce that she became engaged to Warne.

“Shane Warne has confirmed his engagement to actress Elizabeth Hurley after proposing at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship,” her spokesperson confirmed. Two years later, that romance had also crashed and burned.

“Look we’re still friends, we had years of great times together,” said Shane in 2018. “It wasn’t anything that she did wrong or I did wrong. I still love her. But there’s a big difference between loving someone and being in love with them. Unfortunately it got a bit too difficult in the end.” In another interview he added: “The long periods apart were too difficult. The more you’re apart, the more you ask questions. I got jumpy about the time Elizabeth spent with Hugh Grant, for example. I still care for her. She showed me what a relationship should mean.”

Little did she know but both he and Steve would later break her heart yet again - in a way that can never be healed. In 2020, Steve, with whom she had mended bridges some years earlier, tragically took his She posted: “ I am saddened beyond belief that my ex Steve is no longer with us. It is a terrible end,” she paid tribute on . “Our time together was very happy… although we went through some tough times, it’s the good, wonderful memories of a sweet, kind man that matter. In the past year we had become close again. We last spoke on our son’s 18th birthday.”

More heartbreak was to come in March 2022 when Shane died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 52, while on holiday in Thailand. Devastated Liz posted a picture of them together with the words: “I feel like the sun has gone behind a cloud forever. RIP my

Liz was on set filming with Billy Ray at the time - and he was going through his own romantic troubles.

He was in the midst of his divorce from long-time partner Tish, mother of his three children , Braison and Noah. In October 2023 he married Firerose (real name Johanna Rose Hodges), but in June last year Billy Ray filed for an annulment, citing irreconcilable differences and “inappropriate marital conduct”. He also asked the judge to grant a temporary restraining order against his ex. Firerose filed her own court documents with serious abuse allegations which Billy Ray has strenuously denied.

He was also reportedly recorded on audio footage belittling his ex-wife and daughter Miley, 31. The previously said she inherited her “narcissism” for him - although grateful for his career guidance.

There may be red flags to outsiders but it seems both Liz and may be taking some lessons from the movie that brought them together in the first place.

Promoting the romantic comedy at the time, she said: “It’s about someone who’s been through life and it hasn’t worked out for her and she really is worrying that she won’t find her missing puzzle piece.

“So I think it gives hope and heart to people who are a little more mature but still want a happy ending.”

“They still want a happily ever after,” she adds. Who knows, maybe Billy Ray and Liz will find that for themselves too.

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