Actress Elizabeth Hurley poses at a party in October 1996 with ‘friend’ Ghislaine Maxwell in a bombshell picture posted on Thursday night on social media.
The image, shared as a ‘Throwback Thursday’ item on Instagram by TV presenter and producer Sean Borg, shows Hurley at a birthday party with her close pal and one-time flatmate Julia Verdin – and convicted child sex offender Maxwell.
At the time, Hurley was at the height of her fame, following the 1995 premiere of Four Weddings And A Funeral which she attended in the famous Versace ‘safety pin’ dress, with boyfriend Hugh Grant.
By 1996, Ghislaine Maxwell was in a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Borg says that she was present at the party, along with Hurley and a number of other celebrities including supermodel Naomi Campbell.
The picture looks certain to act as an unwelcome reminder for Hurley, known for her charity work, that there was a time when she ran in the same social circles as Maxwell and convicted paedophile Epstein, who died in jail in 2019.
Maxwell, daughter of Daily Mirror tycoon Robert, knew actress and film producer Julia Verdin from the mid-1980s onwards and was one of her best friends. And Verdin and Hurley shared a house in LA from 1992 to 1995.
A source tells me: ‘Ghislaine was part of Elizabeth’s life for years.’
Borg writes in a caption under the post that he and Verdin flew into New York for a James Bond-themed birthday party hosted by art gallerist and socialite Tim Jefferies and businessman (and socialite) Robert Hanson.
Actress Elizabeth Hurley poses at a party in October 1996 with ‘friend’ Ghislaine Maxwell in a bombshell picture posted last night on social media
The picture looks certain to act as an unwelcome reminder for Hurley (pictured this month), known for her charity work
He says: ‘Julia stayed at Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein’s townhouse – I wasn’t invited. Makes sense now!
‘I checked in at The Pierre Hotel, up the street, where Robert (Hanson) had his pied-à-terre, and where the party was held.
‘The night gleamed like a movie. Pop! Swish! Swigs! Uh uh! Champagne! Sequins.
‘Supermodels everywhere – Robert’s current squeeze Brenda Schad, Naomi Campbell, Lisa B. Perfectly cast glamour – every pose on point.
‘At the height of her fame, Elizabeth Hurley mingled with us all night. I was obsessed with her beauty. As we posed for pictures, she asked, “Sean does my hair look alright?” I laughed, “Darling, are you kidding?! You are perfection”.
‘In one photo – Julia Verdin, Ghislaine Maxwell, Elizabeth Hurley, and me – all part of the same crew. I remember the giggles and jokes… too naughty to post.
‘Julia and Elizabeth had been friends for years — and so had Julia and Ghislaine.
‘Epstein was just another guest – arrogant but nothing suspicious. Ghislaine was charming, funny, all smiles, wearing her trademark rollneck flecked with gold. Who knew what the future held?’
He goes on: ‘Looking back, the smiles don’t read the same. I have pictures of Epstein, but they’re tucked away with the photos from my party-era archives when Julia and I led the social scene.
‘Jeffrey was often lukewarm toward me – which makes sense now, considering I knew nearly every showbiz journalist from here to Timbuktu. And I was never invited to the island, nor in his little black book… thank goodness.’
In December 2021, Maxwell was convicted by a jury in US federal court on five sex-trafficking-related counts. She is due to be released in 2037.
Virginia Giuffre, who said that she was trafficked to Prince Andrew by Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001, died by suicide this April. Her posthumous memoir, Nobody’s Girl, has just been published.
Recently unearthed emails, which show Prince Andrew continuing friendly contact with Epstein after he claimed to have cut all ties, have led to him agreeing to stop using his titles.
Mary: Still cooking with gas at 90
Mary Berry’s phenomenal late-flowering media career continues, with her new show Mary At 90: A Lifetime Of Cooking, screening on Tuesday next week on BBC2.
And it can be revealed that there is no sign of the dame’s financial success slowing down, either.
Accounts filed this week show that her companies are worth nearly £1.5million – with Mary Berry Limited recording net assets of £821,000, and Mary Berry Merchandising Limited boasting a total equity of £661,000.
She unassumingly signs the accounts with her married name of Mary Hunnings.
Loyd Grossman – original host of MasterChef – has revealed his struggles to succeed in the world of cooking sauces.
The much-parodied TV presenter, now as famous for his supermarket range as his work on the small screen, says that when he launched it 30 years ago: ‘They [the shops] didn’t understand olive oil.
‘I remember a buyer saying to me — and this was a genuine criticism — “I don’t like them, they have too much flavour”.’
Mary Berry’s phenomenal late-flowering media career continues, with her new show Mary At 90: A Lifetime Of Cooking
An unusual bond was uncovered between actor Paul Walter Hauser, who plays Bruce Springsteen’s sound recordist in the film Deliver Me From Nowhere, and the Boss himself.
Says Hauser: ‘I lived briefly at 7965 Fareholm Drive in Laurel Canyon, from May of 2022 to the October. I realised, when googling the home, that Bruce Springsteen had owned it for 20 years or something.
‘So, yeah, I conceived a child in Bruce’s bedroom. Then when I met Bruce, I told him that and he goes: “Me too!” So we had a nice little rapport right out of the gate.’
How’s this for a fall? Taylor Swift’s world-beating new album The Life Of A Showgirl suffered a 92 per cent week-on-week drop in the US.
Week one was a modern-era record, partly thanks to the mercilessly merchandised roll out of 35 official formats, each with different art or other bonus features. It sold four million units in the US.
In week two it managed ‘only’ 338,000 units: a steep drop, which nevertheless allowed it to keep the No 1 slot.
In the UK it sold 432,000 units in its first week (also a record); and remains top of the pops in its second week.
An unusual bond was uncovered between actor Paul Walter Hauser (pictured), who plays Bruce Springsteen’s sound recordist in the film Deliver Me From Nowhere, and the Boss himself
Wacko spending of Jacko’s children
The gilded lives of Michael Jackson’s three children have been revealed — and it turns out that his elder son Prince is a big spender.
The 28-year-old spent $2,600 on hot dogs, $4,000 on valet parking, and $25,000 on the Cirque de Soleil in 2021. He also forked out $1,700 on balloons.
His sister Paris, 27, meanwhile, had her $18,500 monthly rent sorted by her father’s estate; and also paid a music producer $123,000. In total, she took $3.2million from the estate.
Youngest brother Blanket, 23, who now goes by ‘Bigi’, was given $28,000 in the year for tuition fees
And Michael’s mother, Katherine Jackson, received around $100,000 a month from her son’s estate, which also paid her housing bills.
It’s thought that some of Prince’s expenses relate to a charity Halloween party which he threw in 2021. So not all the hot dogs were for him.
The sums are revealed in an appendix to a lawsuit filed by Paris against her late father’s lawyers.
At the core of the dispute is a 2010 court order which allows the executors of the estate to pay the estate’s lawyers without getting prior approval from a court. Paris’s petition calls for this to be rescinded. Documents show that lawyers were paid $5.5million in one year — and Ms Jackson’s lawsuit claims that between 2010 and 2017 they received a whopping $65million.
At the time of his death in 2009, the ‘King of Pop’ was more than $500 million in debt. Court documents obtained by People magazine in June 2024 showed he owed money to more than 65 creditors. Since then, though, the estate has earned more than $3.3billion, thanks to sales of music, merch — and half of Jackson’s vast back catalogue — as well as various entertainment projects.
A source close to the estate said Paris was objecting to some ‘relatively minor bonuses’ to firms who worked on the sale of Jackson’s stake in the EMI catalogue.
The gilded lives of Michael Jackson’s three children have been revealed — and it turns out that his elder son Prince (pictured in 2023) is a big spender
There’s only one Jennifer Aniston – or is there?
Jennifer Aniston is one of the most recognisable people on the planet — which has made her the perfect target for fraudsters, who have used AI to get ‘fake Jen’ to advertise all kinds of products.
The actress, currently starring in Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, said of AI: ‘It’s all so new. We’re all figuring it out. Its like trying to catch a cloud in your hand.
‘It’s impossible to predict what it is going to mean. Obviously there’s going to be wonderful things that come from it… and there’s also going to be really detrimental things.
‘It’s something to be sent videos of yourself promoting a product — and it’s not you at all. I was promoting computers… there were skincare lines. I have a hair care brand — but now I’ve got competing brands I didn’t even know I was a part of. Good luck to all of us!’
Jennifer Aniston is one of the most recognisable people on the planet — which has made her the perfect target for fraudsters
Plenty of tittle tattle but no tunes for Bowie film
Suzi Ronson, the stylist who created David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust hair – and slept with him – is in the bad graces of the Bowie estate.
I hear that after detailing their encounter – and more – in her recent biography, she has managed to sell the movie rights to the book, Me And Mr Jones.
But there is apparently no chance of licensing Bowie’s music, which will hamper the project’s prospects.
Speaking at an event in New York, Ms Ronson said: ‘It will be a great movie about the Ziggy days and his rise to fame.’ She added of their encounter: ‘The bedroom at his home was pink with a gold ceiling. Everybody thought he was so gay!
‘I think [Bowie’s wife] Angie set me up. I went over there to do her hair on a Wednesday and she said, “I have got to look fabulous. I am going out on a date tonight”. She told me she was having this raging affair with Mickey Finn (from T-Rex).
Suzi Ronson, the stylist who created David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust hair – and slept with him – is in the bad graces of the Bowie estate
‘Then David called me and said, “Why don’t you come over and do my hair?”
‘So I went up to London, had a great meal and he kind of seduced me.’ The book tells how Suzi, a hairdresser from Bromley, ended up dying David’s jockstrap red on the hob of her mum’s stove, for a stage costume; and then travelled with Bowie and the band, taking care of his hair and his wardrobe.
But she ended up falling in love with – and marrying – his guitarist Mick Ronson. They were together until his death in 1993.
