5 minutes with: Liz Hurley

By Michele Manelis

Reuters
Reuters
MiNDFOOD talks to British actress Liz Hurley, about how she keeps sane, her country life and the importance of connecting beauty and health.

You seem like a woman who likes a lot of cosmetics?

(laughs) I do have a lot of cosmetics and perfumes! Generally they’re by Estée Lauder with whom I’ve had a contract for 21 years, so I do have an awful lot of cosmetics and fragrances – as it happens they sit in my bathroom.

How would you describe your house?

Most of my house is white because I always have so much chaos outside so when I get in I like it to be very, very peaceful and very quiet. So, my London house is white and serene, my country house is insane. It’s full of dogs and dog hair and mad people. But London is quiet, it’s white, but if you open a cupboard, an awful lot falls out. (laughs).
My bathroom is white, very, very simple,

How about your wardrobe?

I have all my clothes and all my archived clothes in there.  I am useless at throwing stuff away so I’ve got every dress I have ever worn, not that I could get into them, but they are all there. I wish I could say they are labeled nicely but they are not, but I have got everything

You’re 50 but look much younger.  Are you very disciplined about exercising and diet?

Without even realising it I’ve become more self disciplined than perhaps other people need to be. But I think since I’ve had my son (13 years old) I’ve been very concerned with healthy eating. So when I moved to the country, I bought a farm and turned it into an organic farm because I realised when I had him, you have this tiny little innocent thing and you become very concerned with what you give them and put into their bodies.  And at the same time, I do eat sweets sometimes but I’m always aware that it’s so exhausting to have to lose weight again if you put it on. So I don’t really do much exercise either and I wish I went to the gym more often really but I don’t. When I’m home, I go for really long walks with my dogs and I don’t really sit down and I don’t really watch that much television. I sort of leap around a lot. So I think I am just naturally quite energetic but I have to watch it. I can’t have a box of donuts every time I feel like it. Sadly.

Do you think beauty and health are connected?

I think beauty and health are definitely connected, especially as you get older, that’s for sure.

And I have two lives.  My life in the country is where I cook a lot of very healthy food, almost all organic.  For the first eight years of my son’s life, he only ate meats that I had grown myself on my farm, and I made bread. I was staying at home being a full time mummy so everything was fresh and made and he still hasn’t really eaten anything out of a packet or a tin and I don’t do that either. But in London, I don’t cook at all. I don’t have any food in my house in London, literally nothing. In my fridge I have a bottle of vodka and an eye mask. That’s it. (laughs) So I don’t eat that much in London and I go out almost every night to dinner and like everyone, I try not to eat the bread basket when I sit down, but sometimes I do. I try not to have dessert but sometimes I do and I try not to have the French fries but sometimes I do. So it’s the same as everyone, but I don’t eat that much in London but at the weekend I eat a lot.

When did your son Damian realise his mum was famous?

Well, he fell in love with the movie Austin Powers when he was very young, way before he knew all the rude bits and what he was seeing. So he has seen me sort of on screen from a young age.

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