Hugh Grant admits he admires those who take their marriage seriously but are also open to the occasional affair. This applies especially to those who don’t acknowledge their actions to their partners.
While examining his Florence Foster Jenkins character, who is happy to have a mistress, he said: “I always admire the French and the Italians who are very devoted to their marriages.
They take them extremely seriously, but it is understood that there might be other visitors at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. You just never boast about. They never say anything, but that’s what keeps marriages together.”
The actor, who was caught in 1995 cheating on Elizabeth Hurley with a prostitute, believes marriages are “unromantic” and doesn’t believe that human beings are meant to remain faithful to one person.
He explained to Howard Stern on Sirius XM: “I can see the lovely aspect if you marry exactly the right person – your best friend and it’s cozy and it’s lovely. But, people make so many mistakes.
Do I think human beings are meant to be in 40-year-long monogamous, faithful, relationships? No, No, No. Whoever said they were? Only the bible or something. No one ever said that was a good idea. I think there’s something unromantic about marriage. You’re closing yourself off.”
Grant – who has children with Tinglan Hong as well as Anna Eberstein – often patronized co-star Simon Helberg as he didn’t realize the Big Bang Theory actor was much more famous than he had anticipated.
He shared: “This guy Simon Helberg who’s in ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’, I might have been vaguely patronizing to him because he hadn’t done films before. Gradually, you realize, not only is the guy a much bigger star than me, he’s maybe the richest man I’ve ever met.”