Liz Hurley's millionaire 55-year-old ex Steve Bing and father of her child jumps to his death from his 27th floor LA apartment after becoming 'depressed about lack of human contact during quarantine'

Steve Bing - a filmmaker, philanthropist and father to Elizabeth Hurley's son Damian - has killed himself at the age of 55. 

Bing, whose career in film producing began when he dropped out of Stanford aged 18 after inheriting $600 million from his real estate tycoon grandfather Leo, is reported to have taken his own life.  

The 'Kangaroo Jack' writer died jumping from the 27th floor of his apartment building in the Century City neighborhood after becoming depressed due to a lack of social contact during lockdown, sources told TMZ.

He is survived by two children - Damian and Kira Kerkorian, his daughter by tennis player Lisa Bonder - who were the subject of a bitter inheritance battle with his father, Peter Bing, which they won in 2019. 

Former president Bill Clinton, a friend of Bing, led tributes to him, saying: 'I loved Steve Bing very much.  

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Elizabeth Hurley with Steve Bing in Los Angeles. After a brief relationship she had his child

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Hurley and her son Damian, 18, who was born after an 18-month fling with Bing in the early 2000s. Bing initially denied being the father, and court papers released in 2018 claimed he and Damian had never met

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Police outside the building where Steve Bing lived. He is believed to have jumped to his death

'He had a big heart, and he was willing to do anything he could for the people and causes he believed in. I will miss him and his enthusiasm more than I can say, and I hope he's finally found peace.' 

Bing was a well-known donor to liberal causes including the Clinton Foundation, having signed up to the Bill Gates and Warren Buffett 'Giving Pledge' to give away the majority of his wealth in his lifetime.

He made headlines in 2009 when he paid for the flight that Clinton used to bring two journalists from North Korea to the US after they were locked up on charges of spying.

Bing was thought to be worth around $590million at the time of his death. 

His fortune originated from his grandfather Leo, who built luxury apartment houses in New York in the 1920s. 

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The Century City building where Bing lived, with a police tent to the right showing where he fell to his death

His father, Dr Peter Bing, worked on public health issues for the Johnson White House before relocating to Los Angeles, where he attends to the family business.

The family has appeared on the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans.  

California is dotted with evidence of the family's generosity, from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Leo S. Bing Theater to an array of programs at Stanford University, where Peter Bing used to be chairman of the board of trustees. 

Despite his huge inheritance, Bing was not well known to the general public until his relationship with Hurley. 

Before he finished high school at the Harvard-Westlake School, Bing had already co-written his first screenplay, 'Missing in Action,' with veteran sitcom writer Arthur Silver. 

It was made into a Chuck Norris film and spawned a sequel. 

He inherited his fortune on his 18th birthday, and dropped out of Stanford in his junior year to pursue filmmaking. 

In the early 1990s he reportedly checked into the Hotel Bel-Air for one night, and then stayed there for nine years. 

Bing maintained a low profile, but was forced into the spotlight by his 2000-2001 relationship with Hurley and a subsequent paternity suit, which enrapt the tabloids on both sides of the Atlantic and led him to file numerous libel and invasion of privacy suits.  

In 2002 the Los Angeles Times wrote that 'the press-shy 37-year-old scion is fast acquiring a Gatsby-esque allure and notoriety.' 

The paper reported: 'Now unmistakably on the map as a high-profile Hollywood libertine, he is a man dedicated apparently in equal measures to philanthropy, politics and women.'

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Bing's daughter is Kira Kerkorian (left), whose mother is his ex-girlfriend Lisa Bonder (right). Bonder had claimed Kira's father was billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, to whom she was married for 28 days, but he hired a private detective to prove otherwise

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Liz Hurley and son Damian pictured left in 2008 at a charity event in London, and right at a film premiere in 2011

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Damian Hurley's most-recent post on Instagram was this shot of the sky. It was posted shortly before news of Bing's death spread, and it is not clear if it was intended as a tribute

Friends of Bing said that the 6'4' producer was famed for his easy-going sense of fun and his intellect.

He drove around town in a 1997 Lincoln, wearing jeans and scruffy t-shirts or Hawaiian shirts, and giving no hint of his wealth.  

'He's a fan of strip clubs, has been a high roller in Las Vegas for years, and yet he can discuss the dense Robert Caro biography of Lyndon Johnson,' the paper claimed. 

He was said to count Warren Beatty, James Caan, Hugh Hefner and Mick Jagger among his friends. 

Bing was best known professionally for writing the 2003 film Kangaroo Jack. 

As an investor, Bing was integral in bringing Tom Hanks' Polar Express to life, contributing $100 million to the computer animated feature.

He also produced the Rolling Stones film directed by Martin Scorcese, Shine A Light.

In April 2012, Bing joined the Giving Pledge – a program established by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to commit multi-millionaires and billionaires to donate most of their wealth to charity during their lifetimes. 

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Bing and Hurley pictured at the polo in the Hamptons in 2001, during their on-off relationship

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Bing and Hurley at Elton John's 2001 post-Oscar party in Los Angeles

He is perhaps best known though for his 18-year-old son, Damian, with actress Elizabeth Hurley. 

Hurley met Bing in 2000, while she was ending her 13-year relationship with Hugh Grant. 

The couple, whose relationship remained non-exclusive, separated briefly in March 2001. 

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Bing and Hurley attend an Elton John concert at Madison Square Gardens in October 2000

They reportedly reconnected soon after, and in August visited Elton John's holiday home in Nice.

Hurley informed Bing after they separated that he was the father of her child. 

He issued a news release saying that they had not been in an exclusive relationship and that it was 'her choice to be a single mother.' 

Tabloids in Britain, where Hurley lives, variously labeled him 'Bing Laden' and a 'spermicidal maniac.' 

Bing initially disputed Hurley's claim he was the father but later a DNA test proved otherwise. 

In the same year that Damian was born, 2001, Bing was faced with a paternity suit from a second woman, professional tennis player Lisa Bonder.

Bonder, who in 1984 was ranked 9th in the world in singles, was involved in a high-profile child support lawsuit with her ex-husband of 28 days, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian.

Kerkorian, 48 years older than Bonder, suspected that Bing - Bonder's ex boyfriend - was the father of her daughter. 

Kerkorian hired infamous private eye Anthony Pellicano to investigate, and Pellicano took used dental floss from Bing's trashcan to do a DNA test confirming he was indeed the father. 

Pellicano also wiretapped Bonder's phone calls. 

Pellicano was subsequently convicted on various charges, including wiretapping, received a 15-year prison sentence.   

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Bing is pictured with Martin Scorcese, who directed the Rolling Stones film Shine a Light, which Bing financed

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Bing was also said to have been in a relationship with Sharon Stone

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Philanthropist Steve Bing and Bill Clinton in 2010, at a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative

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Bing was a friend of Clinton and thought to be a donor to his causes, with the former President leading tributes to him

Dr Peter Bing, Damian's grandfather, attempted in 2018 to cut his 'born out of wedlock' grandson from a sizeable inheritance from his will.  

Peter Bing, who donated $50 million to Stanford University in 2006, established his trust in 1980 to 'benefit [his] future grandchildren', who were born or adopted at a young age by Steve or Mary, Steve's sister, according to court papers.

However, Peter sought to redefine the definition of 'grandchild' to exclude children born out of wedlock or who had not lived with either Steve or Mary for a significant portion of time as a child.

If allowed to stand, the new definition would have cut Damian and Kira out of the trust - a move that would also have increased the amount due to be received by Mary's own children.

Steve and Liz joined forces in order to hit back, with his lawyers claiming that Peter and Mary were conspiring to 'orchestrate a massive money-grab to deprive' Kira and Damian of their rightful inheritance and 'thereby increasing—perhaps even doubling—her own children's share of the available fund'.

Separately, lawyers for Hurley accused Peter of having 'misdirected anger' towards Steve which had 'nothing to do with Damian'.

As the feud turned bitter, Steve went so far as to demand Mary be 'penalized' for attempting to secure more money for her two children, Lucy and Anton, aged 19 and 16, whom she shares with her ex husband Doug Ellis. 

If had been enforced, the penalty would have cost her children their entire inheritance.  

Judge Daniel Juarez shot down Peter's attempt to redefine the term 'grandchild' in July last year, saying the term of the trust were unambiguous. However, he also refused to punish Mary's grandchildren in the process.

Juarez wrote in his judgement: 'Although wills are to be construed in accordance with the testator's intent, it is the intent expressed by the words of the will itself which must be given effect rather than some undisclosed purpose or intent that may have existed in the mind of the testator.'

'There is no ambiguity in the Trusts' use of the term ''grandchild''. 

The exact value of the trust is secret, but thought to be worth several millions of dollars to each grandchild. 

Bing has also been romantically connected to Sharon Stone, Uma Thurman and Naomi Campbell.

His philanthropy was less well known, but impressive.

In 2002 Bing was the largest donor to the Natural Resources Defense Council, contributing $10 million. 

He had contributed $3.5 million to support and defend the 1998 initiative that imposed a 50-cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes to fund child-care and anti-tobacco programs for preschoolers, and was generous to Democratic candidates. 

On the night of the 2000 general election, Bing immediately committed $200,000 to the recount effort.    

He also pledged $25 million to Stanford University.