UPDATE, 11/25/24 at 1:15 p.m. ET:
Hugh Grant has weighed in on RHONY alum Luann de Lesseps’ allegation that they kissed back in the day.
Alongside a screenshot of a headline about the now-viral story, Grant wrote, “Steady on. I do remember meeting a charming RHNY in a restaurant, but I’d like to stress it was about 15 years ago. I don’t recall shots or kissing but her memory might be better than mine.”
De Lesseps subsequently responded via an exclusive statement to Us Weekly exclusively.
“Obviously, my memory is better than his!” she quipped. “He’s right it was 15 years ago. We were both not married at the time, I had just divorced [ex-husband] Alex [de Lesseps]. He was ever so charming and couldn’t have been nicer.”
Original story continues below:
Former Real Housewives of New York City star Luann de Lesseps is allegedly kissing and telling.
During an interview with TooFab published on Friday, November 22, de Lesseps, 59, claimed she began “making out” with Hugh Grant during a night out at Pierre’s restaurant in the Hamptons. It is unclear when the alleged interaction took place.
The Bravo personality began telling the outlet that she had been spending time with family in the Hamptons when “a girlfriend” called to tell her that Grant, 64, was at the restaurant. De Lesseps said she made her way over quickly.
“I said, ‘Sit me right behind him.’ I pushed out my chair real fast and I bumped into him, flirting 101, I bumped into him and said, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’” De Lesseps said during the interview. “I go, ‘I’m so sorry, can I buy you a shot, I feel terrible.’”
De Lesseps, who is currently single, claimed Grant, who married producer Anna Eberstein in 2018 and shares three children with her, then told de Lesseps he would “come have a shot with you if you do one with me.”
De Lesseps continued, “Before you know it, we are taking shots and making out … heavily at the table. My brother was like, ‘I can’t believe you’re making out with Hugh Grant,’ and I was like, ‘Neither can I.’”
Us Weekly has reached out to Grant’s representatives for comment.
The alleged liaison was first teased by de Lesseps when she appeared on the November 11 episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. De Lesseps, Cohen and Real Housewives of Potomac star Stacey Rusch were discussing who had hooked up with “someone famous” when de Lesseps spoke about Grant.
De Lesseps asked Cohen at the time, “Remember Hugh Grant?”
Cohen, 56, responded, “Well, nothing happened,” before de Lesseps said, “Well, making out, that doesn’t count?”
Cohen then said he did remember the encounter de Lesseps had been referring to despite not being present himself.
De Lesseps told People in December 2023 that she was manifesting 2024 as her “year of love.” When RHONY premiered in March 2008, Luann was married to her first husband, Count Alexandre de Lesseps, with whom she shares two children. The count filed for divorce from Luann in 2009 after 16 years of marriage.
Luann later married Tom D’Agostino in December 2016, but the pair split just eight months after the Palm Beach, Florida, ceremony.
The alleged encounter with Grant is not the first candid confession fans have been surprised to hear detailed by Luann in recent times. She told Bustle in June that she lost her virginity to an older man at prom. “We had sex in the car, which is so prom,” she told the outlet. “Jim was older than me, but very handsome and sweet. I thought he was the perfect guy to lose my virginity to because he was good-natured. So that was a great experience, actually. Then it just went on from there: the love affair with boys.”
