Liz Hurley's Men/ 7 March, 2006

The men in Liz's life
Gayatri Jayaraman
[7 Mar, 2007 l 1949 hrs ISTlTIMES NEWS NETWORK]

A playboy image, a sense of humour and million bucks in the bank... all of Liz Hurley's men share this and more.

Elizabeth Hurley, it seems, has a penchant for well-educated multi-millionaires. Her list of hits and misses include the over-a-decade-long boyfriend Hugh Grant, Friends star Matthew Perry and Hollywood biggie Stephen Bing, before settling on Arun Nayar. So what is the leitmotif running through her choices, besides a warm smile and a great sense of humour? For starters, the playboy image.

"Playboys are interesting people and attract women. They have an air of mystery about them. Also, look at Liz herself, she is quite an interesting and colourful personality. Besides, there's always the challenge of trapping a playboy," explains psychiatrist and relationship expert Anjali Chhabria.

Is Liz also looking for a match in real life that is otherwise possible only on-screen? Hugh and Matthew both wear warm smiles and share a sense of humour, and are off-screen images of their on-screen selves. The equally school boyish Steve Bing – the father of her son Damien – is known to be reticent, a serious political campaigner and a funder of social causes, and extremely wary of publicity. He is known to stick to jeans and gym shoes at most events, and is close friends with Brad Pitt who called him "a fine man".

Very little is known about her now-husband Arun Nayar, who is very publicity wary too. He is reportedly the sort to be comfortable taking their son out on a tractor at their farm in England, and definitely wants to have kids. "Given the Bollywood video they had starred in and screened at their wedding, she seems to have been searching for that on-screen perfect match all this while, and seems to have found that in Arun," adds Anjali.

And what's with all the multi-millionaires? "Women today are no longer looking to their men for primary security, but they still believe their man should be one level above them. And hence, you see the seeming attraction to multi-millionaires," explains Anjali.

Psychoanalyst and psychotherapist Shilpa Raheja also believes that with Arun Nayar, Liz has found what she's looking for. "All the previous men in her life have been from Hollywood, and TV/filmi relationships are comparatively fragile. With Arun, she seems to breaking away and saying 'it's time to settle down'. It's the stability that comes from the reputed name, social standing, financial and emotional security."