Hugh Grant takes a jibe at ‘high-maintenance’ ex girlfriend Liz Hurley as he reveals the pair were friends with fashion designer Gianni Versace after THAT safety pin dress

Hugh Grant made a playful joke about his ex-girlfriend Liz Hurley when he called her “high maintenance” during his latest interview with Fashion.

The Heretic actor, 64, dated the model, 59, from 1987 to 2000 and the couple made headlines when they stepped out at the premiere of Four Weddings And A Funeral in 1994, with Liz dressed in her famous safety pin dress.

The daring piece put the star on the map, and while Hugh chatted with his Bridget Jones co-star Renee Zellwegger, he revealed the former couple would be having lunch with Gianni Versace himself.

He explained: ‘I went backstage and had lunch with Gianni Versace before his shows in Milan,’ before adding ‘but I did have very demanding girlfriends who were all into this.’

Renee then joked, “Oh, it was the girlfriends. You liar.”

Liz became a household name overnight thanks to her extravagant couture dress, made from a mix of black silk and Lycra, held together with oversized safety pins and borrowed from the Versace flagship store on Old Bond Street.

While Hugh chatted with his Bridget Jones co-star Renee Zellwegger, he revealed that the former couple would be having lunch with Gianni Versace himself

Last year, Liz shared in a Disney+ Vogue documentary how she wore such a daring dress for the evening – and how she dealt with the huge backlash.

She said, “I must have been photographed 800,000 billion times that night. The next day we were on the front page of every newspaper thinking, “What the hell is this?”.

‘I remember just looking at it and thinking, ‘What’ and then ‘Well, it was actually quite a daring dress, wasn’t it?’.

Speaking about how she started wearing such a big designer so early in her career, Liz explained: ‘I knew I had to have a dress and someone said, ‘I know someone who has a PR agency and they might be able to help you “, so on the day we called and said “Do you have anything” and they said “We have one dress”.

‘And I thought, “Okay, I’d like to borrow it, if I can get in.” So I went onto the subway to get the dress, which was handed to me in a white plastic bag.”

The actress and model took the subway to pick up her infamous black Versace number, held together with large gold security pieces.

She said: ‘I’d never heard the name Versace before and it looked quite precarious.

“But I remember touching my toes and reaching into them, and nothing moved, so I galloped down the stairs and that was that.”

He explained: ‘I went backstage and had lunch with Gianni Versace before his shows in Milan,’ before adding ‘but I did have very demanding girlfriends who were all into this’

The daring piece put the star on the map, and as Hugh chatted with his Bridget Jones co-star Renee Zellwegger he revealed the former couple would be having lunch with Gianni Versace himself.

Hugh chatted with his co-star Renee Zellwegger for their latest Vogue interview ahead of the new Bridget Jones film (pictured in 2004 for Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason)

She adds: ‘The next day we were on the front page of every newspaper and I thought, ‘What the hell is this?’.

“I actually didn’t realize how daring a dress it was.”

Last month Liz confessed that she credits her relationship with Hugh with getting her through a crucial period in her life, but admitted they no longer see each other – despite still being good friends after their amicable split in 2000.

Appearing at the Bazaar At Work summit, she said: ‘I was with my ex, Hugh Grant, so it happened to both of us at the same time.

‘Like me, he had also worked a lot and thought he was doing quite well, until Four Weddings and a Funeral came out and suddenly it was very different: he was a phenomenon.

‘The film was a huge success and everything changed. But there were two of us and I think that helped a lot. If you are suddenly in the spotlight, your life is not designed for it.’

She added: “You have no protection whatsoever. It was alarming. The press was much rougher in the 90s and 2000s than it is today. I really believe that people should not be as rude as they were back then.

The Heretic actor, 64, dated the model, 59, from 1987 to 2000 and remained friends after their divorce (pictured in 1999)

She said, “I must have been photographed 800,000 billion times that night. The next day we were on the front page of every newspaper thinking, “What the hell is this?”

‘[I] I think it gives you a bond when you go into the trenches with someone. I mean, he’s married and has five kids. I hardly ever see him, but he is still close to my heart.’

Looking back on her iconic dress – borrowed as a last-minute favor from Dean Aslett, then Head of Womenswear and Atelier at Versace – Hurley admits she was stunned by the attention it received.

“It was very strange,” she recalled. ‘I’d been working for a few years and in my mind I thought I was quite famous – I’d been through a few things.

‘To my family I was a success; but I had no idea what it actually meant to really be in the public eye. That was a real shock to your psyche.’