LOVING LIZ HURLEY
Shane Warne tells all
SPIN KING SHANE REVEALS HOW THE ENGLISH ROSE BOWLED HIM OVER
In an extract from his new book No Spin, Australian cricket legend and tabloid favourite Shane Warne gets candid about many parts of his fascinating life. Here, he talks about the moment he popped the question to actress and model Elizabeth Hurley, the fallout that ensued with his kids − Brooke, Summer and Jackson − the motivation behind his radical makeover, and how one of his closest friends betrayed him...
In the European summer of 2011, James Packer invited us to his boat in Spain and – wait for this – sent his private plane to New York to pick us up. Well, what are mates for! We arrived, and the boat, the Arctic P, was exactly as I remembered it from previous visits – just out of this world. To be on that boat – ship, really – is just the greatest experience and Elizabeth loved it.
We had a few drinks on deck, and a few more, cranked up the music and, as we started to dance the night away, I began to think of
proposing right there and then. After 18 months together and completely on impulse in the middle of a dance, I grabbed Elizabeth, dropped to one knee and said, ‘I’m not sure about you, but I’ve never got along with any woman as well as I get along with you.
I’m madly in love with you.
Our kids get along great.
How would you like to spend the rest of your life with me?’ Without hesitation, she replied, ‘Of course I would, silly, I’m madly in love with
you too. I feel exactly the same. I’ve never got on better with anyone than I do with you either.’ So I shouted, ‘Yessss!’
‘Pack’ was on deck too. He turned around and said, ‘You haven’t, have you? You just haven’t... have you?’ ‘Errrr, yep,’ I said, ‘and guess what, you’re the first to know, James!’
‘Your secret is safe with me,’ he said, and on we partied. I didn’t have a ring, nothing, but the moment was right. The Warne impulse was in action. So we danced and sang and
drank and blew the speakers before we crashed too. On our way to bed, Pack said, ‘Superstar, when you wake up, you are going to be somewhere special.’
No kidding – we had breakfast o0ff the coast of Morocco. There was no-one in sight, no-one for miles, and
Pack and I just hammered the jetskis off the African coastline, laughing and racing and having a ball. After a while, we stopped for a dart [cigarette] – yep, I kept them dry under my wetsuit somehow – and, bobbing
on the ocean, he said,
‘How about last night? How cool was that!’ I said, ‘Mate, it was sensational. I’ve never been so happy in my life. Thank you so much, buddy. I’ve found the girl for me.
‘And, while I’ve got you, mate, thanks for everything you’ve done for me and, best of all, thanks for being such a great mate over a long period of time. I owe you so much.’
‘Mates never owe or judge, Warney,’ he said, ‘they just look out for each other.’ Amen to that. We stayed on board for a couple more days and the sense of euphoria never left that boat.
Back in England a week later, I was working for Sky on a Test in Birmingham. I came off air and my phone rang. It was EH.
She said, ‘Have you seen this article in Australia saying we’re engaged?’
‘What the hell?’ I said. ‘I haven’t said a word.’
Elizabeth told me that she hadn’t either, as we’d agreed we wanted to sit down face-toface with our kids and tell them the great news. The only other person who knew was Pack. I said I’d call him. ‘Maaaate, as if I would tell anyone,’ he said when I rang. ‘I haven’t told a soul.’
‘Well, there was only three of us there, Pack. Elizabeth hasn’t
told anyone, I haven’t told anyone, and you’re saying you haven’t told anyone, so it must be the crew on your boat.’
‘Maybe, mate, I don’t know. The journos find these things out – they just do.’
I was pretty stressed. This could not be happening. I hadn’t told the kids, so this was bad. That night, which was early morning Australian time, I called them. They weren’t happy.
Brooke came on the line on behalf of all three of them. ‘Dad, what the hell is going on? You haven’t mentioned anything to us. Is it true?’
I was put in a situation that I shouldn’t have been and didn’t want to lie to my children. ‘Yes it is,’ I admitted. ‘I wanted to tell you when I got back in a couple of weeks but unfortunately the press have got it.’
‘Dad, this is ridiculous. Look, we’re happy for you, but... geez, why didn’t you think to ask us or at least tell us straight away? You can’t just go off and get engaged and not tell us what’s going on.’
The longer they talked about it, the angrier they became. I’d let them down, though through
no fault of my own this time. I was pretty angry too and once again it caused grief for our families. (About six months later, Elizabeth, Tiger Woods and I were opening Club 23 at Crown in Melbourne. James was there too. Up he came and said, ‘Okay, it was me. I’m sorry – hit me, do whatever you want. I told them you guys were engaged. I’m really sorry.’)
Anyway, things settled and I can honestly say that the time I had with Elizabeth were the happiest years of my life. I was
more in love with her than I’d ever realised I could be.
The more I thought about it, the more I understood that my relationship with [ex-wife] Simone was based on a wonderful and close friendship between two newly married 24year-olds. With Elizabeth it was what I had been searching for.
There was the initial physical attraction, how she looked, acted, spoke; then the things you talked about, related to and liked to do together. But the substance, that chemistry, comes over time and is part of how much you grow to respect each other. The more I got to know Elizabeth, the happier I was in general.
We lived between Melbourne, London and her house in the Cotswolds before buying a bigger house near Ledbury in Herefordshire. I loved the
country lifestyle and, contrary to what people may think and say, I was pleased to be out of town and enjoying the country.
We bought a house together because we wanted to start the journey of shared experiences. It was an investment in the relationship. We did the house up the way we liked as a couple, making sure each of the kids had their own room and there was space for them to be around at the same time without falling over each other.
We created a big, beautiful family home. If only we could have been in it more.
Elizabeth was meeting a whole new set of people, mainly sports-driven of course, and travelled back and forth from Australia establishing new friends and loving the outdoor life. In turn, I hung out with a different crew too, some
high-flyers among them.
Because Elizabeth was in fashion, eyes were trained on us. It was funny to be critiqued for my clothes, having been brought up in a town where no-one gave a damn about what you wore. We featured in magazines and newspapers and, as social media took off, everyone had a view.
The change in my appearance had nothing to do with Elizabeth. I’d watched the first pilot of my interview show and been taken aback at how overweight I looked. TV is a shocker; it puts on three or four kilos, they say. I decided to sort it.
I went on a fitness regime, ate better and trained hard. This was almost exactly the time EH
and I were getting it together, there’s no rubbish in her fridge – nothing processed, no junk whatsoever. It made me rethink the way I lived and, put simply, made me want to wake up in the morning feeling great and excited about the day.
Training became a routine. I lost 12 kilos in no time, and felt fantastic. It sh**s me that people think I’ve had plastic surgery – or any work, for that matter. I’ve never gone under the knife. Yes, Advanced Hair. Studios have been looking after my hair since I first signed with them in 2004, years before
I met Elizabeth. And yes, my teeth are whitened – big deal. I’m a smoker and they’d be a revolting yellow if I didn’t.
People made out that I’d become some kind of skinny, wacko freak. Nah, I just wanted to feel healthy and look good.
So that’s vain of me? Yes, fine, I’ll take that.