Actor Elizabeth Hurley has announced that her marriage is over with Indian-born Arun Nayar, hours after she was pictured in an embrace with the former Australian cricketer Shane Warne, reports Daily Teleraph, London.
The model and actress wed Arun Nayar, an Indian businessman, in a lavish celebration only three years ago.
Rumours that all was not well with the marriage were confirmed when photographs emerged of her kissing Warne outside a London restaurant.
After a day of mounting speculation, Hurley took to Twitter to announce the break-up. "Not a great day. For the record, my husband Arun & I separated a few months ago. Our close family & friends were aware of this," she said. There was no reference to Warne.
The unlikely pairing of the Estee Lauder "spokesmodel" and the Australian spin bowler was exposed by a Sunday newspaper.
They were photographed kissing in the foyer of the Sake No Hana restaurant in St James's, central London, where they had dined with Hugh Grant, Hurley's ex.
The following day the pair were spotted together gazing out of a hotel window. The newspaper claimed they spent two days in each other's company.
Hurley's spokesman refused to comment on her friendship with Warne, but the pair have been conducting a very public flirtation via Twitter since they met at Goodwood in July.
After they were pictured together at the races, Hurley sent Warne a message which could be viewed by her 38,000 followers. "Hello new Australian friend, how nice to have met you & in such sexy surroundings. I like the papers saying we're old friends..." she wrote.
A month later, she Tweeted: "My spies tell me u just talked about me on a talk show - I hope you said deeply flattering things x". In October, she invited him to visit her at the Cotswolds farm where she runs a beachwear and organic food business.
In other messages she referred to him as her "favourite Australian" and said: "I've always thought cricket the most aesthetically pleasing of all sports & cricketers the prettiest of all sportsmen. True!!"
Another Tweet, sent on November 3, read: "Sammy sends you a special lick and says he'd like to put his silky head on your shoulder." It is thought to be a reference to her cocker spaniel.
Warne was in London to conduct interviews for his Australian chat show, Warnie, and his arrival coincided with feverish speculation that he is to come out of retirement and make a shock return to Test cricket.
Being linked to the glamorous Hurley will provide some timely publicity for Warne's ailing career as a chat show host. He made his television presenting debut last month only to see his audience fall from 800,000 to 400,000 in the space of a week.
His womanising ways are well known. In 2000, he was stripped of the Australian vice-captaincy for a lewd text message scandal. In 2005, he separated from his wife, Simone, following stories of extramarital affairs. A year later, he was caught in a newspaper sting dressed in his underwear and cavorting with two topless models. He is now divorced.
"When you're lonely and you're away for six months, things sometimes just happen and then you regret it afterwards and you think, 'You idiot'. At the end of the day, it's cost me probably a chance to captain Australia. It's cost me sponsorship. It's cost me lots of stuff," he once admitted.
A spokesman for Warne refused to comment.
Hurley married Nayar in March 2007 with ceremonies at Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire and Rajasthan in India, both covered by a glossy magazine. The couple had no children but Hurley has a son, Damian, by former partner Steve Bing.
