Attitude Awards 2025: Elizabeth Hurley on winning Honorary Gay award: ‘Stand strong – one day you will inherit the earth’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Whether draped in a snake and a bikini, grabbing headlines in that safety pin dress, or strutting in a gleaming go-go suit, Elizabeth Hurley has never played it small. She’s a spectacle, a muse — the woman who taught a generation that glamour is not about frivolity but devotion. She is a living storyboard in how to be fabulous, while sparking admiration, envy, delight and sexual confusion in equal measure.

But her place as an enduring gay icon isn’t just about bold fashion moments. Hurley has long shown up for causes close to her heart, such as supporting the Elton John AIDS Foundation, of which she’s a patron, and standing alongside Elton John and David Furnish — godparents to her son Damian — in their work to fight stigma and support those living with HIV/AIDS.

It’s fitting, then, that her status has now been consecrated with the Honorary Gay Award, supported by Jaguar, at the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, powered by Jaguar. To mark the occasion, Attitude brings together a meeting of fabulous minds: Hurley in conversation with one of her sharpest companions, the barrister and broadcaster Rob Rinder. Theirs is a recent friendship that blossomed after discovering instant chemistry on Channel 4’s The Inheritance, where Rinder serves as legal ‘Executor’ to Hurley’s gloriously deceased benefactor. Here’s what we could publish…

Rob Rinder: Elizabeth, you’re joining a dazzling list of past Honorary Gay Attitude Award-winners: Dame Joan Collins, Elaine Paige, Melanie C, Amanda Holden and Lulu. How does it feel to be joining that pantheon of icons?

Elzabeth Hurley: I’m dizzy with gratitude. My award shall take pride of place at home.

You’ve been a screen siren, a dead heiress — my personal favourite — the Queen, and the woman who gave the world the safety-pin dress, which is now practically a Drag Race category in its own right. Looking back, which moments in your career do you feel most deeply embraced you into the LGBTQ+ family?

I think seeing my enduring friendships with so many gay men, whether they’re musicians, actors, designers or fl ight attendants, is probably what made me the most embraceable. Playing immoral divas helped, too, which started in Bedazzled and continues to this day in The Inheritance.

Gay culture has always celebrated its divas, from Judy Garland to Diana Ross to RuPaul’s runway queens. Do you see yourself in that tradition, and what do you think makes a true diva in 2025?

A true diva must love sequins, very high heels, 80s disco music and have lots of best gay friends. I tick all the boxes. However, I’m relatively low maintenance and rarely have tantrums, so I may need to start shouting at people to really join the ranks.

Joan Collins once said, “Glamour is a state of mind, not a state of age.” What does glamour mean to you now?

What wise words from Joan, the ultimate glamour queen. Joan is one of my best friends and she doesn’t have a mundane bone in her body. Glamour means strutting your stuff , knowing what suits you, surrounding yourself with interesting people and, above all, staying interested and engaged.

Past recipients of Attitude Awards include George Michael and Boy George, icons who combined artistry with courage. Is standing visibly with the LGBTQ+ community, as you have, a kind of activism?

I’ve never looked at it that way, but I’m thrilled if I’ve ever encouraged people to open their minds. I’ve never stood on a soap box and lectured people; for me, actions have always spoken louder than words, but I do see that someone does indeed have to stand on that soap box, and I commend those who have done and continue to do so.

You’re now in a relationship with Billy Ray Cyrus, a man with hair so glorious it deserves its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. What’s it like sharing life, and that mane, with him? And tell me honestly: between the two of you, who’s the real romantic?

Billy and I have so much hair between us that we’re in constant danger of choking on hair balls. He’s definitely more romantic than me; he spent the summer strumming his guitar under a tree, composing love songs as I strimmed and chainsawed around him. But he gave me a giant tepee for my birthday, and we snuggle up in that and it’s extremely romantic.

How has being a mother shaped your sense of responsibility not just to Damian, but to the world he’s grown up in, especially at a time when acceptance and inclusion matter more than ever?

Embracing other people’s sexuality, race and religion was ingrained in me growing up, and it’s how I’ve raised my son. Being a parent is all-consuming and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve put bringing up baby ahead of everything. Billy and I watch birds of prey through our binoculars most days and see them build their nests, hunt to feed their babies and then prepare them to go out into the big, bad world and fly solo. While I’m not ripping up squirrels with my talons to feed my son, I would if I had to. There’s nothing like parenthood to bring out the call of the wild.

If you could leave the gay community with one lesson, one line, to carry forward from you into our future, what would it be?

Stand strong; one day you will inherit the earth.

FASHION CREDITS

ELIZABETH WEARS AGENT PROVOCATEUR, JEWELS BY DAVID MORRIS, STILETTOS BY VERSACE; MAGIC MIKE LIVE LONDON CAST MEMBERS (FROM LEFT): REECE WEARS GIEVES & HAWKES; TODD WEARS GIEVES & HAWKES; EZZAHR WEARS DSQUARED2; CARLES WEARS GIEVES & HAWKES; KEVIN WEARS DSQUARED, GLASSES BY VERSACE; MARCUS WEARS VERSACE.

---

This is an excerpt from a feature appearing in the 2025 Attitude Awards issue. To see the full feature, order your copy of the Attitude Awards 2025 issue now or read it alongside 15 years of back issues on the free Attitude app.