Elizabeth Hurley has paid tribute to cricket star and ex partner Shane Warne following his death at the age of 52.
Warne’s death was confirmed by his management in a statement yesterday, revealing he had been found unresponsive at his villa in Thailand.
There were unsuccessful attempts to revive him but his cause of death suspected to have been a heart attack.
Remembering her partner, actress Hurley shared a series of old photos from during their romance with an emotional caption.
‘I feel like the sun has gone behind a cloud forever. RIP my beloved Lionheart @shanewarne23,’ she wrote.
One snap showed the couple kissing on a beach while another showed the sporting legend cradling a baby lamb while Hurley made a kissing face.
Others included them gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes while taking a romantic stroll on the sand and Hurley supporting the player at a cricket game.
The couple enjoyed a high-profile romance following Warne’s divorce from ex wife Simone Callahan, with whom he shares three children.
Warne was photographed kissing Hurley in 2010, with the bowler later confirming via his Twitter account that he and Callahan had separated, but only close friends and relatives knew up until that point.
His relationship with Hurley was again subject to cheating reports, however, the couple moved in together in Warne’s Brighton mansion.
The stars confirmed their engagement in late 2011, but in December 2013, WHO magazine reported that they had ‘called off’ their marriage.
Just last year, the cricketer took to Twitter to vent his frustrations after Woman’s Day magazine published an article suggesting he and Hurley had rekindled their romance.
He said the ‘lies’ had an effect on his mental health and his family.
Following his first round of cheating scandals, eldest daughter Brooke said she saw her dad in a ‘bad light’ for the first time.
Speaking in Warne’s Amazon Prime documentary, released just weeks before his death, she said her image of him at that time was ‘broken.’
Warne has spoken publicly about the media storm that engulfed his romance with Hurley, particularly while they were in Australia.
They ended their engagement following a chaotic trip to Sydney, with Warne later saying: ‘We couldn’t go anywhere else because we’d just get 30-40 people, photographers, news crews, everywhere we went.’
‘We had seven cars following us and a helicopter over our head just following us, running red lights, cutting off in front of us,’ he added.
Warne continued to speak fondly of Hurley after their split, saying: ‘[I’m] quite sad it’s over because I still care about her deeply and she’s a wonderful person.’
Warne’s family have asked for privacy at this time, with his mum revealing her ‘shock’ following his sudden death.
The cricketing icon has been offered a state funeral as tributes pour in from sports fans and celebrities around the world.
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