‘It was a traumatic time’

Elizabeth Hurley is opening up about her painful experiences with the British press. On Tuesday, January 22nd, Hurley attended the High Court in London as a claimant in Prince Harry’s case against the British press, specifically the publishers of the Daily Mail. 

Hurley was accompanied by her son, Damian, and proceeded to sit in the witness box and answer some emotional questions from attorneys. As she was questioned about a series of articles published in the Daily Mail between 2002 and 20011, discussing her relationship with the late Steve Bing, her son’s father, Hurley became emotional. She asked for a pause. 

“It was a pretty traumatic time,” Hurley said. 

In her written evidence, Hurley revealed that the Daily Mail’s coverage of her life included intrusive and illegal methods. “The Mail’s unlawful acts against me involve landline tapping my phones and recording my live telephone conversations, placing surreptitious mics on my home windows, stealing my medical information when I was pregnant with Damian, and other monstrous, staggering things,” reads the statement, as reported by The Guardian.

“Above all, it was the discovery that The Mail had tapped the landlines of my home phones and tape recorded my live telephone conversations that devastated me. I had not come across this brutal invasion of privacy in either of my two battles with the other newspapers.”

© PA Images

Prince Harry’s case against the British tabloids

Prince Harry was in the stands, offering support for Hurley and other claimants involved in the case, which includes Elton John and his husband David Furnish, and Sadie Frost, Jude Law’s ex-wife. 

Yesterday, Harry spent two hours in the witness box discussing his case, which seeks reparations following the coverage of his and Meghan Markle’s marriage and life. Harry and his team allege that the negative coverage began in 2016, when he and Markle confirmed their relationship to the world. 

© Mark Thomas

“Through the course of this litigation, it’s only got worse, not better,” said Harry. “It’s fundamentally wrong to put all of us through all of this again. What’s required is an apology and some accountability. It’s a horrible experience.”

This marks Harry’s third and final legal battle against various British outlets. Associated Newspapers Limited, the publisher of the Daily Mail, deny these claims and is defending against them.

© Kevin Mazur