On Monday Hugh Grant aligned himself with the family of slain London schoolgirl Milly Dowler, who were famously victims of the phone hacking scandal in England that brought the media empire of Rupert Murdoch under investigation earlier this year.

Grant took the stand to testify that the Mail on Sunday had allegedly hacked his mobile phone in 2007 before reporting that his relationship with girlfriend at the time, writer Jemima Khan, was in trouble due to some phone calls going back-and-forth between Grant and a "plummy-voiced" woman, who Grant later revealed to be an executive assistant in a U.S. production company.

"I cannot for the life of me think of any conceivable source for this story on the Mail on Sunday except those voice messages on my mobile telephone," the Four Weddings and a Funeral actor said, reports the L.A. Times. "If someone like me called the police for a burglary, a mugging, something in the street, something that happened to me or my girlfriend, the chances are that a photographer or reporter would turn up on your doorstep before a policeman."

Grant's case against the Mail marks the first official accusation of hacking against a publication that was not owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which was fingered earlier this year in a massive scandal that brought the media mogul, his son James Murdoch, and his former CEO Rebekah Brooks to testify in front of a committee.

Associated Newspapers Ltd., the company that owns the paper Grant accused of illegally invading his privacy, has denied any wrongdoing in the case. "I'd love to hear the Daily Mail or the Sunday Mail's explanation of what that source was if it wasn't phone hacking," Grant said.

Sienna Miller and Harry Potter writer J.K. Rowling will also testify this week.

Watch part of Grant's testimony here:

1 Comments

  • A Grinshpan
    A Grinshpan on

    So bizarre

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