Actor Hugh Grant went to extraordinary lengths to avoid being photographed with old flame Elizabeth Hurley, when they flew to New York for a dinner party.
Grant left JFK airport using a different exit to his ex, checked into the same hotel minutes after her, and tried not to stand near her when they left the party.
He even asked their shared driver to pick him up a few blocks down the street and drop him off a short distance from the bash to ensure they did not walk in together.
Hugh and Liz, who dated for 13 years, arrived in The Big Apple on Sunday evening, on the same flight from London.
While she was all smiles, waiting for her car at the airport, he kept his head bowed, chatted on his cell phone, and left the terminal from a different exit.
Liz, 42, was first to arrive at the exclusive Manhattan hotel and went inside, wearing blue jeans and a dark grey coat.
Hugh, 47, arrived at the same hotel just two minutes later and dashed through the glass doors.
“Hugh looked rather disheveled,” one onlooker said.
“His shirt was coming un-tucked from his jeans and his jeans even looked like they had stains on.
“It didn’t look like he had taken much time to get dressed that morning.”
An hour later, at 9pm, the actor emerged from the hotel, having changed into a black suit, and walked a few blocks down the road.
Just minutes afterwards a car arrived to pick Liz up and she hopped into the vehicle.
In a bizarre scene, the car then drove two blocks, picked up the Love Actually star on the street corner and headed to a dinner party hosted by Valentino.
Hugh’s photo-evading tactics got even stranger when the actor got Liz’s driver to drop him off a few blocks before the party – so they did not walk in together.
The car carried on, dropping the Austin Powers actress off at Valentino’s door, with Hugh following on foot a few minutes behind.
Eyewitnesses spotted Hugh and Liz leaving the dinner party at the same time, along with Anne Hathaway, her boyfriend Raffaello Follieri and two pals.
But as soon as the old flames stepped outside, Hugh dashed off to stand separately in the street.
“Someone in the group was trying to call Hugh back,” the onlooker said. “They were telling him to wait and shouting ‘We’ve got to talk’.
“But he wouldn’t move and said that he had to leave and needed to go to his car.
“When the car showed up he couldn’t get in. The driver didn’t seem to be able to open the doors – it was really funny.
“Hugh was getting more and more frustrated, trying the handle. Eventually he stormed off and started walking up the street.”
Liz got into her own car with two pals and stopped on the street corner to pick Hugh up.
But there was more secrecy when they arrived back at the hotel.
While Liz got out and headed to her room, Hugh stayed in the vehicle and drove off again.
“Hugh’s behaviour was rather odd,” the onlooker said.
“Liz didn’t seem to care whether they were photographed together or not, but he was doing everything he could to avoid it.
“Everyone was wondering what had got into him.”
Hugh and Liz began dating in 1987 and were together for 13 years.
The couple went their separate ways in 2000, saying they had made a “mutual and amicable decision” to split.
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