WHY THE STARS SAY 'I DON'T' TO GETTING MARRIED

These days the ceremony only takes four minutes and 30 words - but they're still not interested. Led by Liz Hurley, more and more celebrities are refusing to say "I do" and insisting: "Sorry, we won't."

Liz is the face of Estee Lauder, and she's set it firmly against any idea of a wedding to Hugh Grant. "No, never," she said.

"No, no, no," she repeated, just in case anyone was in any doubt. "I can't even look after myself, and I wouldn't want to invite that much chaos into my life."

But Liz, 31, still wants to be with Hugh for the foreseeable future.

"It would be a terrible shock for me to lose him," she said. "I wouldn't want someone else when I was 50. In some ways, though, it fills me with despair."

Liz and Hugh are in good company. Living together - sharing a mortgage, but not a marriage - is rapidly becoming the lifestyle of choice.

Pop stars Damon Albarn from Blur and Justine Frischmann from Elastica have been living in sin and harmony for some time, but any mention of marriage strikes the wrong note.

"I have no intention of marrying Justine, because I don't believe in all that stuff," Damon says. "I miss her a lot when we're apart, but you have to learn not to get too dependent on people."

Justine is equally adamant. "Weddings are just an excuse for families to get neurotic," she says. Rock guitarist Brian May and former EastEnders star Anita Dobson, both 46, are old hands at altar avoidance, having lived together in unwedded bliss for eight years.

Admittedly, if YOUR screen husband was Dirty Den, you'd probably need to be marched to the church by Group Four security.

Carrot-topped entertainer Chris Evans, 30, and TV researcher Suzy Aplin, 27, are searching for a period country rectory to settle down in.

But although they are regular browsers at estate agents in the green belt, so far they have not been spotted at H. Samuel looking for a band of gold.

Freddie Starr's lady, Trudy Coleman, does wear an engagement ring on the third finger of her left hand. But that might well be all she will get - Freddie remains a reluctant bridegroom.

"We've no immediate plans to marry, even though Trudy does wear the ring," Freddie says. "I don't ever want to go through the pain of a divorce again. "

Darren Day and Anna Friel...Michael Aspel and Irene Clarke...Barbara Windsor and toyboy Scott Harvey - it's an ever- growing list, and not just a showbusiness trend.

James Major, 21, the Prime Minister's son, and his divorcee girlfriend, Elaine Jordache, 33, live together with his family's blessing. And Sophie Rhys-Jones shares Prince Edward's quarters at Buckingham Palace.

One royal watcher says: "The palace snobs were horrified when the Queen accepted Sophie effectively moving in and living with Edward.

"They even let the Queen know that they thought this was a bad idea as it looked like a royal endorsement for trial marriages, but their advice fell on deaf ears....not least because Edward made it plain to his mother that he wasn't going to be rushed into a marriage like Charles and Andrew and then see the whole thing end in tears."

But does marriage actually matter? Some experts believe that in the modern world it doesn't.

Psychologist Dr Dorothy Einon, a specialist in relationship studies says: "In practice, getting married and living together amount to pretty much the same thing. One just lacks a legal piece of paper, that's all.

"The commitment level can be just as high and couples are just as devoted to one another."

Mind you, there's always an exception. Radio 2 presenter Jimmy Young, 72, has married his girlfriend Alicia Plastow, 44, after 26 YEARS of courtship and live-in love.

Obviously, with the postal strike and so on, it took a bit of time to arrange the service.

Copyright 1996 MGN LTD
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