Elizabeth Hurley has fought “just like a mother bear protecting her cub” in a bid to make sure her son gets his share of a massive family fortune, according to a new report.
Lisa Bonder-Kerkorian, whose daughter was also left out in the cold in the bitter inheritance battle, backed Hurley in an interview with the Sunday Times of London.
The women both had children with businessman Stephen Bing, whose father, Dr. Peter Bing, has an estimated $2 billion fortune — one he refuses to share with the late Stephen’s two kids, who were both born out of wedlock.
He said, ‘You’re not born in wedlock, so you don’t count’, and I was like, ‘Wow, do we live in the Stone Age here?'” Bonder-Kerkorian said of Peter Bing.
She and Hurley joined forces in 2019, going to court with the billionaire to make sure their kids, Hurley’s son Damian, 19, and Bonder-Kerkorian’s daughter, Kira, 23, got their fair share.
“Elizabeth couldn’t have been more lovely,” Bonder-Kerkorian told the Sunday Times of London of her time fighting side-by-side with Hurley.
The parents initially won. Stephen Bing had begun to build relationships with his once estranged son and daughter, only to commit suicide last summer.
But 90-year-old Peter Bing refused to give up the fight, and eventually prevailed in his bid to keep Stephen’s children from receiving the funds, estimated to be about $250 million a piece, according to a report.
“When Stephen took his own life, he died thinking his children were going to be taken care of,” Hurley said in a statement. “What Stephen wanted has now been callously reversed. I know Stephen would have been devastated.”
Being shut out of the family funds was devastating for Kira Bonder, but it wasn’t about the money, her mom insists.
“No, for these kids it was really about knowing their father, knowing their grandfather, and being welcomed into a family that they felt had abandoned them many years ago.”
The conflict may have contributed to Stephen Bing’s mental health issues, she said.
“To have his own parents say, ‘I don’t want to meet your kids, I don’t want to know your kids, your kids don’t count’… I believe that dynamic contributed to Steve’s mental health woes,” Bonder-Kerkorian said.