Actor Hugh Grant says Bible wrong on monogamous, lifelong marriage

NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) – The Bible has it wrong on marriage, British actor Hugh Grant said in a radio interview on shock jock Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio program late last week.

Grant, who was promoting his latest film Florence Foster Jenkins, which also stars Meryl Streep, described the idea of monogamous, lifelong marriage as boring and "unromantic."

In the film, Grant's character has a mistress, a role he said he was happy to play because it is near to what he believes reality is. That doesn't mean Grant believes people should not get married. Instead, he believes those married should be allowed to have other sexual partners.

"I always admire the French and the Italians who are very devoted to their marriages," the actor told Stern. "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," he said. "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."

"You're closing yourself off," the actor opined.

Ironically, Grant praises his brother's "annoyingly good" long-term marriage.

Grant is famous for movies like Bridget Jones's Diary and Notting Hill, but also well known for his 1995 arrest for engaging in a sexual act in public with a Los Angeles prostitute. He has never been married, but dated actress Elizabeth Hurley from 1987-2000. He has since had four children by two different women.