Pregnant Hurley set for April baby

Elizabeth Hurley is expecting a baby with her multi-millionaire boyfriend Steve Bing, it was revealed yesterday.

Announcing the news, the 36-year-old actress said she is "delighted" and looking forward to the birth of her first child - due in April.

But she seems certain to be a single mother - there are no plans for her and the 35-year-old American to marry or live together.

And earlier this week, in an extraordinary move, Miss Hurley went for a pre-natal check-up and scan accompanied by her former lover Hugh Grant.

They were seen on Tuesday going arm-in-arm into the smart St John and St Elizabeth hospital in St John's Wood, North -West London.

Grant - who split with the actress in May last year after 13 years together - shared the emotional confirmation that she was pregnant and that all was well with the baby.

The two spent several hours in the hospital's renowned maternity unit, where Jerry Hall and Emma Thompson had their children.

One of Miss Hurley's friends said yesterday: "Liz is preparing to bring up the baby alone. She will rely on the love and support of her family and many friends."

Last night, another long-time male friend, writer William Cash, was answering the door at her flat in Chelsea.

And near midnight, Grant arrived at the three-storey property in a black Mercedes. Carrying a white and black holdall and refusing to comment, he let himself inside with his own keys.

The pregnancy is understood to have come as a surprise to Miss Hurley, who is taking her relationship with film producer Mr Bing "day by day". Yesterday, he was in Los Angeles - where he has been for the past fortnight - and is not expected back in London until the weekend. The couple have had an on- off romance. They split up in March, only to be quietly reunited the next month.

Since then, they have often been spotted out on the town in Los Angeles, where Miss Hurley spends much of the year, and he lends her his private jet.

Mr Bing, heir to a real estate fortune, is returning to Britain to publicise a movie he has produced, Night of the Golden Eagle, which is premiering at the London Film Festival on November 17.

He is understood to be planning to spend the festive season with Miss Hurley and will meet her family. He also recently accompanied her on a trip to Dublin, where she was doing promotional work for Estee Lauder.

However, while he has presented her with a huge sapphire and diamond ring and is understood to want to make their relationship permanent, she is not sure about settling down.

The actress has always wanted to be an international star, and loves the glamour and freedom of her lifestyle. She once said: "The moment I want to get married and have children is when I am tired of being Elizabeth Hurley."

She is also unsure if her relationship with Mr Bing is for keeps. Last month, when she already knew she was pregnant, she was less than glowing when speaking of their romance. "I don't know what type of relationship is right for me at this time in my life," she said. "I've always considered that most things that happen are inadvertent.

"I take comfort in that in a way, because it's less frightening to me and I take a day-by-day attitude. I have been seeing someone for a while who's an American and who I'm very fond of."

Only last week, her spokesman Karin Smith was hotly denying the star was pregnant.

But those close to Miss Hurley had noticed she had finally given up smoking, which she had been struggling to do for a decade. And for months she had been refusing wine while out on the town.

Those who know her and enjoy her extrovert party-girl company suspected the reason.

Miss Hurley is a godmother to Patsy Kensit's son Lennon and to her best friend Henry Dent-Brocklehurst's baby. But she has long made a virtue of her own lack of maternal instinct.

Grant likes to tell how he bought her a rabbit as a kind of trial run for motherhood. After two days, she lost interest and they had to give the pet away. But in interviews since dating Mr Bing, she has been less negative about starting a family.

She said the fact that she and Grant never had children - or wanted to - might have been a symptom of something deeper not working in the relationship.

"It was never right for the two of us to have children - I think we both knew that," she added.

"I don't think it was somethimg we actively knew, but the fact was that we had been together for 13 years and still didn't feel we wanted to get married and have children.

"Without actually feeling that we didn't want to do either of those things, we didn't feel that we did - it made us think there must be something missing."

In another interview, she said that if she and Grant were to start a family it would need to be "sooner rather than later, because I'm 33". At 36, she evidently feels this rather unexpected chance at motherhood is one she must take.