British beauty Liz Hurley reportedly dumped longtime lover Hugh Grant because he refused to get her pregnant.
“Well if you’re not man enough to be a dad, I’ll find someone who is,” Hurley told Grant during a bitter showdown over the couple’s future, London’s News of the World reports today.
The couple, who had been together for 13 years, broke up three weeks ago, though neither Hurley, 35, nor Grant, 40, publicly blamed the other for the split.
The tabloid said one of Hurley’s close friends reported Liz’s biological clock was ticking away but Grant always managed to ignore it.
“Liz wanted to marry Hugh and have his babies,” the friend said. “She always said the only reason she would ever leave him would be if he said no to being a dad.
“In the end, it became obvious that Hugh wouldn’t commit – so Liz felt they had nowhere to go. She told him it was over because, above everything, she wants to be a wife and mother.”
Grant’s reluctance to procreate with Hurley was documented on at least one other occasion. In a recent interview, the handsome star of “Notting Hill” speculated he’d be “marvelous as a dad.”
“The question mark really hangs over Elizabeth,” he said. “She used to beg me to get her a rabbit when we lived in a small flat in London. When I gave in, she loved it for a day. Then, on the second day, she suddenly looked at it and said, ‘It looks like a rat. I can’t stand it. Take it away.'”
But a rabbit ain’t a kid, and Hurley knew the difference, the tabloid said.
“I’ve seen her around her nephews and nieces,” the friend said. “This is a woman who loves kids. We used to tease her about getting fat if she got pregnant, but Liz would stop giggling and say in all seriousness, ‘Fat? I can’t wait to look as gorgeous as that.’
“Hugh’s a sweet man, but we could see he wasn’t marriage or father material,” the friend added. “He wasn’t right for Liz in that way. At the end of the day, Liz needs a Mr. Maturity type.”