Elizabeth Hurley opens the door cradling her newborn son Damian Charles and beams as brightly as the strong sun that fills her hotel suite.

Elizabeth Hurley stars opposite Matthew Perry in 'Saving Sara.'

She's enthusiastic and proud to show off her 18-week-old. He was asleep when she left him to do an interview, but now he's wide-eyed and smiling. His alabaster skin is soft as cotton; his eyes a dark blue like his father's, Steve Bing. His chubby legs are strong, the same as his tiny grip.

Motherhood also has gripped Hurley, 37. And even she is surprised at the hold it has taken. Before, a child didn't seem a must-have accessory for this sexy jet-setter with her revealing designer gowns and kitten heels, never one to go coochie-coochie-coo when she saw a baby.

"I was always the type of person who said, 'Of course I'm going to have children — one day.' There was always that 'one day.' Now that day has come, and it's a great day."

Damian's toys are on the floor, and his crib is visible in the adjoining bedroom, as is his babysitter. With her son in tow for his first trip to America, the British actress has crossed the pond to promote her comedy Serving Sara, also starring Matthew Perry and opening Friday.

"I've never been anywhere without him," she says. "I can't imagine going anywhere without him ever."

He has enhanced her life in ways she hadn't imagined, bringing serenity when she's "stressed," she says. Although she doesn't say it, his presence probably replaced pain with pleasure.

The multimillionaire Bing, an American producer and real estate heir, and Hurley were linked together in 2000, the year she broke up with Hugh Grant. A month after she announced her pregnancy, Bing, 37, put out a statement saying the two were not in an exclusive relationship and it was her choice to be a single mother. But, he said, if he was the father, he would be "an extremely involved and responsible parent."

A hurt Hurley countered with her own statement and a Today Show appearance to say their 18-month relationship was exclusive. Bing demanded a DNA test, and in June his paternity was proved in a London court. Any financial arrangements for the baby remain private.

If she's hurting inside because of the scandalous accusations from Bing and his camp, it doesn't show.

Bubbly with her head held high, she sits cross-legged and barefoot on a couch, sipping coffee and wearing a pink T-shirt with a faded Union Jack on the front and jeans that are frayed at the bottom.

Considering her phenomenal figure, no one would believe she put on 53 pounds (blame the bacon sandwiches and red Jell-O) during her pregnancy. By eating healthy and exercising for the first time in 15 years, she has shed all but eight of those pounds.

Hurley refuses to dish when it comes to Bing, and she won't even divulge if Damian has met the dad he favors so much.

"I feel so bad that Damian had such an unprivate start to his life that I don't ever want to comment again on anything that is personal to him," Hurley says. "If one day he wants to talk about his family life, that's his choice. I want to try to get back some of the privacy that was lost for him."

She didn't plan to become a single mother, but now that she is one, she embraces it and seems determined to shower Damian with the love and attention of two people. What has astonished her most about motherhood is how much she wants to stay home.

"When I am out for dinner, I secretly can't wait to get home so I can run and have a look at Damian," she says. "During the day, I want to finish my work so I can go home and cuddle Damian. When I wake up in the morning, instead of turning over for another snooze, I'll go see what Damian is up to. It's a remarkable feeling. I never knew I had it. I love it.

"I didn't know I liked changing nappies. (That's diapers to non-Brits.) I love sterilizing his bottles. I never did all of that. It's brought out the housewife in me that I never knew existed. I love doing his little laundry. Oh! I love ironing his little romper suits. I don't think I literally ever ironed anything in my life. I never ironed anything for me. I didn't even know I had an iron."

As soon as he was put in her arms for the first time, she told her sister Kate that she wanted another child.

"The circumstances obviously would have to be right," Hurley says. "But I found out that I love children."

Sara director Reginald Hudlin got a kick out of Hurley the mother when he stopped by the suite to visit the two the other day.

"Every mother glows, but she is radiating like the sun," Hudlin says. "And just watching her with her son was hilarious because she's so happy. She's fully conscious of the contrast, and she's amused by it as well. To go through such a rough patch and come out so buoyant on the other side is great."

But to some, Hurley can do no right. Part of it she has brought on herself, such as shooting an Esteé Lauder commercial during the Screen Actors Guild strike against advertisers in 2000, then claiming she didn't know about the work stoppage. Or wearing a gown cut high up her left thigh as she party-hopped with a scantily clad Pamela Anderson at post-Oscar bashes in 2001.

She has even been criticized for naming her son Damian, like the devil-child in The Omen (with a different spelling), and speaking with a strong English accent that her detractors say she exaggerates to sound upper-class. She has been made out to be a gold digger and has had her morals questioned as she has been linked in the tabloids to a variety of men, including a married Denis Leary. Asked if she feels picked on, she looks sad — momentarily.

"I don't have a sense of humor about anything concerning Damian," she says. "I take it very seriously. But when I'm criticized for having an English accent, that kind of makes me laugh. I'm not so humorless that I can't see that's a very lunatic thing for someone to say."

She refuses to fight the mudslinging. "I'm not going to refute insanely inaccurate, untruthful and very upsetting stories that have been said about me because my life is private. My friends know what's true. I know what's true. My family knows what's true. Damian will know what's true."

It's clear by her actions and words, as scarce as they are concerning Bing, that she isn't relying on him for support. Why else would she give Damian six godfathers (Grant, Leary, Elton John and his companion David Furnish, New York financier Teddy Fortsmann and British noble Henry Dent Brocklehurst) and no godmothers?

"He's in a gaggle of heaving bosoms everyday," Hurley explains. "So I thought it was nice to have some men who are my best friends, who are going to be in his life, hopefully, for a long time and have all vowed to do manly things with him."

The face of Esteé Lauder since 1995, the actress-turned-model was replaced by Carolyn Murphy last fall. Hurley remains under contract until spring and is the spokeswoman for the Intuition fragrance line. No longer exclusive to the cosmetic company, she's ready for new endorsements.

"I can do a few more things, which is definitely going to open new horizons and hopefully pay Damian's school fees," she says.

Better known for her high-profile romance with Grant and seductive red-carpet attire than her film career, Hurley's most successful movie was Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery in 1997. Bedazzled, with Brendan Fraser, dazzled neither the critics nor moviegoers, while Double Whammy and Bad Boy, both with Leary, don't look as if they will make it to the big screen.

She flaunts her comedic skills in Sara. In the film, she tries to avoid Perry, who plays a process server trying to serve her divorce papers from her wealthy cattle-rancher husband. After Perry catches her, she makes a deal to give him $1 million if he serves her husband first, thus giving her the upper hand financially. On screen, she's a Brit living in Texas. She fancied the idea of being a fish out of water.

Hurley next appears with Sean Penn, Catherine McCormack and Sarah Polley in The Weight of Water, based on the Anita Shreve novel about a woman's obsession with an unsolved 19th-century murder, opening Nov. 1.

Next month, she'll travel throughout the USA with Evelyn Lauder to promote An Eye for Beauty, a book of Lauder's nature photographs that benefits the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Hurley lost her maternal grandmother to breast cancer 10 years ago.

"We are very loyal to her and she is very loyal to us," says Lauder, senior corporate vice president for the Esteé Lauder Companies. "She has gone through a difficult personal period, which was a shock to her. I'm hopeful that (Bing and Hurley) will somehow work things out very nicely and she'll be able to make a wonderful relationship with the child and father."

Hurley and Grant, meanwhile, are best of friends and live so close that when he opens his bedroom drapes, she can see him from her London rooftop terrace. She waves at him from across the way. Why don't they just get back together?

"Well, there's been a lot of water under that bridge," Hurley says. "I love Hugh. He's the best friend in the world. Life has moved on."

Is she ready to date again?