Hugh Grant Discusses How Social Media Affects Celebrity Hookups

Reminiscing the old times, Hugh says the way celebrities hook up now is "weird."

"In the old days, by the end of the second week, you were all getting drunk in the evening and having dinner and falling in love with each other and all of that," Hugh says.

"All of that stopped because of telephones. Everyone goes home and looks at Twitter," he adds. "It’s so sad.”

Stephen then asks him, "So, if there weren’t telephones on set, there would be more affairs going on?"

"Yeah, I think so,” Hugh laughs. "You know, [Quentin] Tarantino bans telephones from sets."

The 62-year-old veteran actor adds, "Quite right too. The people [on his set], they do all shag each other—or so I’m told."

This isn't to say that Hugh doesn't know what he's talking about. As a decades-long actor, Hugh has had his fair share of ups and downs in the industry – including scandals.

In 1995, 34-year-old Hugh Grant was caught in his car "doing lewd acts" with a 23-year-old sex worker named Estella Marie Thompson, who went by the professional name Divine Brown.

The two were arrested. Aside from getting fined, Hugh was also ordered to attend an AIDS education program.

Following the arrest, Hugh released a statement, saying, "Last night, I did something completely insane. I have hurt people I love and embarrassed people I work with. For both things, I am more sorry than I can ever possibly say.”

At the time, he was still together with the actress Elizabeth Hurley. In fact, they were 8 years into their relationship when the incident happened.

Although they broke up briefly, they did get back together again, staying together for another 7 years before finally breaking up for good in 2000.

In interviews since the breakup, the two have repeatedly insisted that they've managed to stay good friends, even saying at one point that they're "like brother and sister."

Hugh has talked about the 1995 car scandal a few times throughout his career.

In an interview with Jess Cagle in 2018, Hugh said, “I was just an idiot. I didn’t try to say, ‘I’ve got this psychological problem.’ I just said, ‘I did it.’”

In 2021, he went on the WTF Podcast with Marc Mason and said, "[Nine Months] was about to come out a week or two after that, and I had a bad feeling about it. Everyone in it was brilliant, but I was so atrocious that I was not in a good frame of mind.”

Just this year, Hugh commented again on the incident in his interview with The View. The conversation was about the British actor's campaigns against the tabloid press in Britain.

Hugh half-jokes, “Everyone thinks, ‘Oh, well, he’s just bitter because he got arrested with a hooker in 1995.'"

To which Whoopi Goldberg says, “But you know what, really, who hasn’t?”

Despite his wit and humor, Hugh does know how to get serious real quick, though.

“These big newspaper owners, largely non-tax-paying newspaper owners, are living above the law and invading the privacy of people whose kids are being killed in a road accident or whatever to get the sensational article," he said during the interview. "No one dares to take them on in Britain because they’re so scared of them, especially the politicians."

It was previously reported that a now-defunct publication, News Of The World, paid the sex worker he was found with £100,000 to reveal the "true story" behind the incident.

Part of her story included Hugh allegedly telling her, "I always wanted to sleep with a Black woman. That’s my fantasy."

Hugh Grant's latest movie, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, is now out in theaters. The actor is starring alongside Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Regé-Jean Page, and Sophia Lillis, among others.