Liz Hurley has posted a tribute to ex-fiance Shane Warne after the Aussie cricket legend’s shock death.
Warne died of a suspected heart attack in Thailand late on Friday night, with mates unable to revive him as they performed CPR after discovering the leg-spinning great unresponsive in his hotel room.
Hurley took to Instagram late on Saturday night to remember her ex, sharing multiple photos of the pair together.
“I feel like the sun has gone behind a cloud forever. RIP my beloved Lionheart,” she wrote.
Watch Australia’s Tour of Pakistan on Kayo. Every Test, ODI and T20 Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >
Hurley’s son Damian also posted on Instagram about Warne as he too shared a series of happy snaps with the cricket icon.
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around this … SW was a father figure to me for most of my formative years and was truly one the best men I’ve ever known,” Damian wrote.
“My heart is broken. Thinking of and sending love to all SW’s family.”
MORE COVERAGE
The moment Warne’s family learned of spin king’s death as heartbreaking details emerge
‘Come on, you’re going to be late’: Shane Warne’s tragic final moments revealed
‘Played his own game’: ‘Numb’ Gilchrist sums up ‘maestro’ King of spin’s legacy in touching tribute
Warne and Hurley started dating in 2010, with the Aussie cricketer proposing to the British actress in September the following year but despite buying a home together and Warne feeling like “I was more in love with her than I’d ever realised I could be”, they split in 2013 before making it down the aisle.
In his autobiography No Spin, Warne said there was “no single, clear reason” why their relationship ended. But it’s clear Hurley landing a lead role on TV series The Royals played a big part because of the new demands on her time and how little they saw each other.
Warne’s relationship with Hurley came after the 2005 breakdown of his 10-year marriage to Simone Callahan, which ended on the eve of an Ashes series in the UK.
Warne proposed to Hurley on Australian businessman James Packer’s boat, Arctic P, off the coast of Spain in 2011 after just 18 months together. It was supposed to be kept secret but Packer let the details slip.
“Completely on impulse in the middle of a dance, I grabbed Elizabeth, dropped to one knee and said, ‘I’m not sure about you, but I’ve never got along with any woman as well as I get along with you. I’m madly in love with you. Our kids get along great. How would you like to spend the rest of your life with me?’” Warne wrote in his book.
“Without hesitation, she replied: ‘Of course I would, silly, I’m madly in love with you too. I feel exactly the same. I’ve never got on better with anyone than I do with you either.”
Packer was the only one party to the moment and was fingered by the couple when the news broke in Australia a week later and forced them into a tough conversation with their angry kids.
After initially denying he’d said anything, Packer fessed up about six months later.
“Okay, it was me,” he told Warne at Crown in Melbourne. “I’m sorry — hit me, do whatever you want … I’m really sorry.”
During this summer’s Ashes series Warne described his split with Callahan as the “lowest moment of my life”. The pair got married in 1995 and have three children together: Jackson, Brooke and Summer.
“Getting divorced was a difficult time in my life and for my children — and it was my fault,’’ Warne said on Fox Cricket’s broadcast.
“So I have to live with that for the rest of my life so it wasn’t easy.
“A week before the Ashes series to do that, and then have to drag myself off the canvas and get out there and play in 2005, play against a quality England side … to have the Barmy Army for six hours a day, not just 10 minutes, singing songs, singing ‘Where’s your missus gone?’
“Yeah good on you mate, it was a pretty good song.
“I’m sitting there worrying about my children that I was hoping I was going to spend three months of the Ashes series with, but because of my own doing they had to turn around and find a flight (back to Australia) so I was pretty devastated with that.
“That was the lowest point in my life and then I had to go out and play an Ashes series so that was really tough.”