Stephen Bing, the sometime movie producer and real-estate heir who caddishly suggested he might not have been Hurley's up-close-and-personal sperm donor, confirmed Wednesday that he is indeed the father of her son, Damian Charles, born April 4.
"Recently conducted tests have shown that Steve Bing is the biological father of Elizabeth Hurley's son," a spokeswoman for the Big Apple millionaire said in a statement.
The DNA evidence was presented as attorneys for Bing and Hurley met in a London court to discuss the matter of baby Damian's paternity. Neither parent was present for the hearing. Hurley reportedly has been holed up at Elton John's England estate; Bing was said to be Stateside and not in a talking mood.
Previously, Bing, 37, blabbed that he and Hurley, who dated for 18 months from 2000-2001, were "not in an exclusive relationship." That came as news to his ex.
"I was completely loyal and faithful to Stephen throughout this time as, indeed, he assured me he was to me," Hurley, also 37, said in a statement during her tabloid-friendly pregnancy last December.
Three weeks after Damian's birth, Bing went to court to officially challenge the paternity claim. So clouded was the issue that by the time a birth certificate was filed in late April, the British magazine Hello claims that the line identifying Damian's father was left blank.
As late as this weekend, there were gossip reports out of New York that Hurley was backing down on pressing Bing on the daddy issue. But Hurley's rep insisted Damian's DNA was ready to go, and be tested.
At the time he brought the matter to court, Bing said he was prepared to live up to his obligations as a father--if he was proved to be the father.
"I will be an extremely involved and responsible parent," he has said.
As of mid-April, Bing and Hurley had not spoken to each other since the child's birth. Hurley's camp said he made no attempt to contact her; Bing's said he just couldn't contact her.
The son of a New York real-estate magnate, Bing's biggest Hollywood credit is as a producer on the 2000 Sylvester Stallone flick, Get Carter. He is currently embroiled in another paternity battle, this one involving billionaire MGM owner Kirk Kerkorian.
Kerkorian's ex, onetime tennis pro Lisa Bonder, had asked Kerkorian to pay $320,000 a month in child support for her four-year-old daughter. But Kerkorian refuses, claiming Bing fathered the child (Bonder has since admitted the child is not Kerkorian's but has yet to identify the biological father).
In May, Bing filed a $1 billion invasion-of-privacy suit against Kerkorian, claiming the mogul had his lackeys go through Bing's trash to find dental floss that they could use for a DNA test to establish Bing's purported paternity.
Hurley, probably most celebrated for being Hugh Grant's long-time love, will next be seen in the comedy Serving Sara with Matthew Perry, oft-rumored (erroneously, as it turned out) to be the father of Hurley's baby himself.