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Hugh Granted Damages in Libel Suit

Fri., Apr. 27, 2007 8:54 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

When it comes to Hugh Grant's relationship with the British tabloids, it's love-hate, actually.

Just two days after the foppish actor was arrested on suspicion of unlawful baked bean action, Grant accepted a sizable, though undisclosed, settlement Friday from two British tabloids for printing false stories about the demise of his relationship with socialite Jemima Khan.

The Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday handed over damages and an apology to the Love, Actually star stemming from a libel lawsuit he filed back in February against the Associated Newspapers publications.

"I took this action because I was tired of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday papers publishing almost entirely fictional articles about my private life for their own financial gain," Grant said in a statement read out by his lawyer in court.

"I am also hoping that this statement in court might remind people that the so-called 'close friends' or 'close sources' on which these stories claim to be based almost never exist."

At the crux of the suit were three stories printed in the papers, alleging that Grant's three-year relationship with Khan ended due to caddish—and in some instances, simply bizarre—behavior on Grant's behalf.

The first article, published in the Mail on Sunday on Feb. 18, claimed that Grant had been carrying on a phone call flirtation with a senior executive at Warner Bros. while still involved with Khan. The story went on to say that the socialite was so distressed by the incident that she barely ate for three weeks.

The second article, published in the Daily Mail on Feb. 21, shifted the blame for the demise of the relationship on the 46-year-old actor's inability to get over Elizabeth Hurley. The story claimed that Grant had not only, against Khan's wishes, volunteered to be an usher and make a speech at Hurley's wedding to Arun Nayar, but had bought her two rather unusual wedding presents: a personally inscribed necklace and the sponsorship of a chimpanzee from the London Zoo.

As it is, Grant failed to speak, let alone even appear, at any of Hurley's weddings.

On Feb. 24, the Daily Mail published a third article alleging that Grant was fed up with promoting his romantic comedies and had refused to make any more appearances to back his film at the time, Music and Lyrics.

Grant wasn't in London High Court for the ruling, leaving it up to his attorney, Simon Smith, to refute each of the papers' stories and stress that Grant's split from Khan was an amicable one.

Smith also went on to condemn the tabloids himself, saying that "the truth is that all of the above allegations and factual assertions are false."

The lawyer also added that, not only did Grant not carry on a flirtation with a woman at Warner Bros., but that, based on the story's description of the executive, "as far as he is aware, she simply does not exist."

While it was not revealed how much Grant received from the papers, his lawyer said the actor will donate the entire sum to the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity.

In the meantime, the Notting Hill star may be back in court soon, and with a very different outcome.

On Wednesday evening, the actor voluntarily showed up at a West London police station, where he was subsequently arrested and questioned on suspicion of assault on a paparazzo. Earlier that day, the thesp allegedly hurled a Tupperware container full of baked beans at a paparazzo who approached him outside his South Kensington home.

Grant is due to return to the police station, pending further inquiries, in May.