Liz Hurley’s ex Steve Bing was heartbroken and wracked with guilt over the death of his girlfriend, the great-granddaughter of film legend Robert Mitchum, when he jumped from his 27th floor apartment on Monday, DailyMail.com can reveal.
His suicide, at age 55, was days before the one-year anniversary of his girlfriend’s death from a drug overdose, social media posts by her family reveal.
Bing, a multi-millionaire Hollywood movie investor, had been planning to have children with 28-year-old actress Allexanne Mitchum before she died in the hospital last year, her aunt wrote in a moving social media post.
Carrie Mitchum, an executive chef from Santa Barbara, wrote that she knew Bing for 32 years and had introduced him to her niece. The bereaved aunt, 55, explained the couple had an argument on June 26 last year and Allexanne went to stay at a friend’s house.
Liz Hurley’s ex Steve Bing was heartbroken and wracked with guilt over the death of his girlfriend, the great-granddaughter of film legend Robert Mitchum, when he jumped from his 27th floor apartment on Monday, DailyMail.com can reveal
Bing, a multi-millionaire Hollywood movie investor, had been planning to have children with 28-year-old actress Allexanne Mitchum before she died in the hospital last year
Bing called and the two made up, but before she returned to their Palm Springs home the 28-year-old took what she believed to be a Xanax pill. The pill was laced with fentanyl causing Allexanne to overdose.
She stopped breathing that day and was declared dead on July 3, 2019.
Carrie said that even before the coronavirus lockdown Bing was struggling with his mental health, feeling guilty over Allexanne’s death.
‘In March, shortly before lockdown, Steve, my mother, and I were to meet for lunch at The Bel Air. Steve called that morning and asked that just I come as he was not feeling well,’ Carrie wrote on Facebook on Friday.
‘I went to his apartment in Century City, bought him a bunch of groceries, and we talked for hours. He was questioning God, the afterlife, the meaning of everything and anything.
‘He got really quiet and his eyes filled with tears and he said… “And the guilt…”… I knew exactly what he meant.
Carrie wrote that Bing and her niece (at left) were friends with Bill and Hilary Clinton, and she posted on Facebook from four days before Allexanne’s death showing them out with Rolling Stones member Ronnie Wood (in orange).
‘Allexanne’s aunt said she never saw Steve in anything but casual clothes. But her neice got him to wear a suit he was so much in love with her.
‘Allexanne had died on his watch. Our watch. That guilt tears me up every single day. Intellectually, I know it wasn’t his fault. Or my fault. It was a horrible accident. Emotionally, the guilt is crushing.’
On Monday June 22, four days before the one-year anniversary of his ex’s overdose, Bing committed suicide by flinging himself from his 27th floor Los Angeles apartment.
Carrie wrote that a few weeks ago Bing’s mood seemed to have lifted after reconciling with his ex and mother of one of his children, Elizabeth Hurley.
‘A few weeks ago Steve was optimistic. He said he had been getting along with Elizabeth, he was working on an app to help soldiers with PTSD, he was angry about the virus and how the L.A. mayor had handled everything. Nothing seemed unsurmountable,’ she said.
‘Allexanne and her aunt Carrie Mitchum, who she adored
‘But I know from my own experience moments of despair can become overwhelming. Steve was the most decisive person I have ever met, if he decided to do something, he didn’t waste any more time thinking about it, he did it, and although Steve was one of the smartest people I have ever met, it does not mean all his decisions were good ones.’
Carrie wrote that Bing and her niece were friends with Bill and Hilary Clinton, and she posted on Facebook from four days before Allexanne’s death showing them out with Rolling Stones member Ronnie Wood, and hugging at a Stones concert in Chicago.
The Santa Barbara chef added that Bing had known late billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and that Allexanne had persuaded him to report any information he had about Epstein to police.
But Carrie hit out at conspiracy theorists claiming that Bing and her niece’s deaths were suspicious or related to Epstein.
‘Seeing the ridiculous posts with quotes like “All roads lead to Epstein” and “The Clinton body count” has provoked me to speak out in defense of my friend,’ she said.
‘He was a kind, gentle man with a wicked sense of humor and a tremendous sense of fun. I remember on my sons first birthday party almost 26 years ago Steve showed up at the door thrusting an unwrapped copy of “Where The Wild Things Are” into my hands grinning and exclaiming “because what better adventure book is there for a one year old?”.
‘That was Steve… Thoughtful, caring, adventurous. When that same son attempted to take his own life in 2018, Steve was one of the first people to call and offer his help, if you were in his fold, he didn’t abandon you.’
Allexanne comes from a line of Hollywood stars. Her great-grandfather was the classic film noir legend Robert Mitchum who appeared in Cape Fear and El Dorado, and her father, Bentley Mitchum, has appeared in about 40 films and TV series including the Man in the Moon and Susie Q.
Carrie, a Cordon Bleu-trained chef, said that she planned to get her actress niece an internship with Bing, and was surprised when the couple ‘clicked’ despite Bing never showing an interest before in younger women.
‘Within a month they were living together. Watching them together was a tender and sweet experience,’ she said. ‘They held hands, he kissed her forehead, they giggled a lot. ‘They decided to move away from Los Angeles and set up a home in Palm Springs. They were excited to cook home meals, have guests come out. Steve was building Allexanne an art studio and joked maybe he would take up painting.’
Carrie wrote that she was even more surprised when Bing, who did not raise his son with Hurley or daughter with former professional tennis player Lisa Bonder, said he was planning kids with Allexanne.
‘Steve told me they were talking about having a child, which completely floored me,’ she said.
The Century City building where Bing lived, with a police tent to the right showing where he fell to his death
‘Steve had two children and while he fought for them, they were unplanned. Steve didn’t want to be a bad father, as he claimed his father was, so I was surprised he wanted to be a father but he told me Allexanne was afraid of being left alone if he died, since he was 25 years her senior.’
The aunt described how her long-time friend had ‘vacillated between anger, disgust, frustration, and primarily despair’ after the death of his girlfriend and had become ‘obsessed’ with finding out how she died.
‘A year ago Allexanne and Steve had returned from Chicago where they had been for the Stones concert. They were staying “in town” at the Beverly Hills Hotel and got into an argument,’
Carrie wrote. ‘Steve told Allexanne to leave and get another room, instead she went to a friend’s house. They spoke on the phone for an hour and a half and resolved their issue and planned to meet back in Palm Springs in the afternoon, June 26th 2019.
‘Steve was finishing up at his attorneys office when I got a call from my mother saying she thought she had been punked. She had gotten a text saying Allexanne was unresponsive and on her way via ambulance to UCLA.
‘I called Steve and he and my family spent the next eight days at UCLA but Al never regained consciousness. We removed her from life support on the 4th of July. She was 28.
‘Steve hired a team of investigators including ex LAPD homicide detectives, special forces guys, and lawyers. In the course of the investigation, we learned some very upsetting things about Allexanne’s life and Steve blamed himself for not protecting her, even though they happened prior to their relationship.
‘He vacillated between anger, disgust, frustration, and primarily despair. ‘It wasn’t until December when I met with the coroner and the lead homicide detective on the case that we learned Allexanne died from Fentanyl and Xanax toxicity.
Police outside the building where Steve Bing lived. He is believed to have jumped to his death
‘While she had a prescription for Xanax due to anxiety, she did not have them with her. She had some pills that looked like Xanax but tested to be Etolizam, however there was none of that in her system so it appears she decided against taking them.
‘The working theory is she was getting ready to go join Steve in Palm Springs, was anxious, and her friend offered her a Xanax, which was laced with Fentanyl.’
Last week Carrie posted one of the last photos of Bing and Allexanne before she died, showing them out with friends including Stones’ member Wood.
‘This photo was taken June 22, 2019. They all look so happy!’ the aunt wrote. ‘Allexanne looks so tiny squished between a smiling Steve and Ronnie Wood. Steve was so proud… He remarked several times how he had never brought a woman to hang out with those friends before and they all knew how serious it was.’
Bing got into Hollywood finance after inheriting $600 million from his real estate magnate grandfather aged 18.
Bing founded Shangri-La Entertainment and funded movies including Tom Hanks’ The Polar Express and Beowulf.
Liz Hurley posted a tribute to Bing on Instagram as news of his suicide spread, saying she was ‘saddened beyond belief’ while describing him as ‘a sweet, kind man’
Liz and son Damian are pictured in 2018 at the opening of the Dinosaurs in the Wild attraction in Greenwich, London
In 2002 he fathered Liz Hurley’s 18-year-old son Damian, but broke up with the actress and model soon after. He also had a daughter, Kira, with former tennis pro Lisa Bonder.
His paternity was revealed in a legal dispute between Bonder and her ex-husband, billionaire Kirk Kekorian. Bing claimed in a legal filing that a PI hired by Kekorian took dental floss out of his trash to get a DNA sample for a paternity test. The test proved Bonder’s child was Bing’s, not Kekorian’s.
In a tribute posted on Instagram last week, Hurley revealed that she had been rebuilding her friendship with Bing over the past year.
‘I am saddened beyond belief that my ex Steve is no longer with us. It is a terrible end,’ Hurley wrote. ‘Our time together was happy and I’m posting these pictures because although we went through some tough times, it’s the good, wonderful memories of a sweet, kind man that matter.
‘In the past year we had become close again. We last spoke on our son’s 18th birthday. This is devastating news and I thank everyone for their lovely messages.’
- For confidential support call National Suicide Prevention Line, 1-800-273-8255
- For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details
- In Australia, call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on: 13 11 14