Hugh Grant took a playful jibe at his ex girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley as he called her ‘high-maintenance’ during his latest interview with Vogue. 

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

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

He explained: ‘I used to go backstage and have lunch with Gianni Versace before his shows in Milan,’ before adding ‘but I did have very high-maintenance girlfriends who liked all this.’

Renee then joked: ‘Oh, it was the girlfriends. You liar.’

Elizabeth became a household name overnight thanks to he extravagant couture gown, manufactured 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.

Hugh Grant took a jibe at ‘his high-maintenance’ ex girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley as he reveals the pair were friends with fashion designer Gianni Versace after THAT safety pin dress (pictured 1994)

As Hugh chatted with his Bridget Jones co-star Renee Zellwegger he revealed the former couple would lunch with Gianni Versace himself

Speaking in a Disney+ Vogue documentary last year, Elizabeth shared how she came to wear such a risque dress for the evening – and how she dealt with the huge reaction.

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

‘I remember I was just looking at it thinking “What’ then going “Well it was actually a pretty daring dress wasn’t it?”.’

On how she came to wear such a huge designer so early in her career, Elizabeth explained: ‘I knew I had to have a dress and somebody said “I know someone who’s got a PR firm and they might be able to help you” so on the day of we rang and said “Do you have anything” and they said “We’ve got one dress”. 

‘And I was like “Well alright I’d love to borrow it, if I can get into it.” So I went on the tube to get the dress, which was handed to me in a little white plastic bag.’

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

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

‘But I remember touching my toes and stretching up in it, and nothing moved, so I galloped down the stairs and that was that.’

He explained: ‘I used to go backstage and have lunch with Gianni Versace before his shows in Milan,’ before adding ‘but I did have very high-maintenance girlfriends who liked all this’

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

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

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

‘I hadn’t really realised how daring a dress it was.’

Last month Elizabeth confessed she credits her relationship with Hugh for helping her navigate a pivotal time in her life, but admitted they no longer see each other – despite remaining firm friends following their amicable separation 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’d also worked a lot, and thought he was doing pretty well, until Four Weddings and a Funeral came out and suddenly it was completely different – he was a phenomenon.

‘The film was a mᴀssive success, and everything changed. But there was two of us and I think that mᴀssively helped. When you’re suddenly thrust into the spotlight, your lives aren’t set up for it.’

She added: ‘You don’t have any protection. It was alarming. The press was much ruder back in the 90s and 2000s than it is now. I truly believe that people aren’t allowed to be as rude as they were then.

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

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

‘[I] think it gives you a bond when you sort of go to the trenches with someone. I mean, he’s married with five children. I hardly ever see him, but he’s still very close to my heart.’

Reflecting on her iconic dress – borrowed as a last minute favour 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 had been in 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 one’s psyche.’