• August 16, 2004
• Vol. 62
• No. 7

Romance, Actually

Hugh Grant Dates a British Heiress and Sets London Society Atwitter

Take England's most notoriously commitment-averse bachelor, pair him with one of the world's most dazzling high-society heiresses and voila!—an irresistible treat for London tabloids, now feasting on the romance between actor Hugh Grant, 43, and Jemima Khan, 30, the daughter of the late French-British billionaire entrepreneur Sir James Goldsmith. After months of playing hide-and-seek with the paparazzi, the pair are finally bringing their relationship into the open, recently kissing at upper-crust hangout Annabel's in London. "We've got two of the highest-profile people in London, who are both extremely beautiful," says society columnist (and Khan pal) Nicky Haslam. "There's always something very attractive about two beautiful people being together."

Until now the two—who have yet to officially acknowledge a romance—had been determined to keep their pairing under wraps; Grant, for example, donned a bull mask to exit Khan's London home on July 7. Jemima's divorce from Pakistani cricket champ-turned-politician Imran Khan, 51, only became final in June. They were married for nine years and have two sons. "This was a mutual decision and is clearly very sad for both of us," Imran said in a June 22 statement, blaming the rift on long-distance stresses as he worked in Pakistan and Jemima preferred London.

And Grant—who hasn't been linked to a serious romance since his 2000 split from Elizabeth Hurley—seems to prefer having her there. Says Haslam: "She has that quality that makes men go weak in the knees."