Actress and beauty model Elizabeth Hurley, 36, has just been replaced as the face of Estee Lauder, a position she's filled for the last seven years, by American model Carolyn Murphy, a high cheek-boned blonde ten years her junior. Hugh Grant’s ex, who will stay on with Estee Lauder's for the fragrance advertisements she's made her own, says she is only too happy to step down on the cosmetics side because she wants to devote more time to her film work.
“I have four movies in the can and am considering others and have two producing deals, so I am phenomenally busy,” Liz emphasised. The current move also means that she will be free to work for other cosmetic firms. Apart the general 'younger model' tendency in the modelling world, there is also speculation that the Mickey Blue Eyes producer’s recent romantic shenanigans – she has been seen out and about with a stream of elegible bachelors following her breakup from boyfriend Hugh – are not in line with the cosmetic house’s more sedate image.
Then there were the controversial bikini and python pix and her scantily clad appearance at the Oscars with Pamela Anderson. The official line, though, is positive. “Everybody is in agreement and everybody is thrilled about it,” said a spokesperson for Estee Lauder. Liz concurred in a similar vein: “I couldn’t be happier and remain besotted with, and grateful to, Leonard and Evelyn Lauder, my surrogate American parents.
The Lauder veteran, who signed a £2.5 million deal last year, will also continue to make personal appearances for breast cancer awareness, a cause with which the cosmetic house is very much involved. “This new deal works perfectly for me.
I’m going to travel a lot more and do many more public events which I much prefer to sitting in a dark studio all day,” she said. Incoming “face” Carolyn, who lives in New York with her husband and baby daughter, says she is looking forward to joining the “women who have personified the image of beauty for Estee Lauder over the years”. She will make her official campaign appearance next January.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
