Four months into their high-profile romance, rumours abound that actress Liz Hurley and her businessman boyfriend Arun Nayar are considering marriage.
Thirty-seven-year-old Arun, a Bombay-based millionaire who is the heir to his family's textile fortune, has filed for divorce from his wife of seven years, Valentina Pedroni. And it is said that during a recent trip to Bombay to meet his parents, Liz agreed to marry her new beau – but won't get engaged until the divorce is finalised. "Arun waited until they were in his home country to propose," said a friend. "He wanted her to meet his family first so that he could be sure."
Though Arun's mother is said to get on well with the Austin Powers star – the two shared a three-hour lunch during her visit – at least one other member of the family seems to be finding the new relationship hard to swallow.
"I didn't want to meet her," said Arun's paternal grandmother Kailash Nayar, who was unhappy seeing photographs of the couple kissing in St Moritz in the newspapers. "It's very difficult for me to see these pictures all over the press… It might be all right for actresses like her but Arun is a nice Indian boy from one of Bombay's best families."
Mrs Nayar also told the Mail On Sunday newspaper that her estranged granddaughter-in-law had gone to New York after the marriage split. "I am still very fond of her, and we still speak on the phone a lot," she said. Valentina, an Italian model, returned to India last week to seek a divorce attorney.
Both Liz and Arun have remained mum on the subject. Asked about the relationship as she promoted a London charity this week, the Estee Lauder model remarked: "I'm here to help raise money for Parkinson's disease, which I think is a lot more significant than my personal life."
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
