Elizabeth Hurley's problems with unions continued yesterday after it emerged she had been thrown out of Equity.

The British actors' union revealed that the Estée Lauder model had failed to pay her subscriptions for five years, despite repeated letters.

The news follows Hurley being jeered as a "scab" by 200 protesters this week at the premiere in Los Angeles of her new movie, Bedazzled, after breaking a US actors' strike.

She was expelled from Equity two years ago, a union spokesman confirmed last night. "She ceased being a member in November 1998 because we hadn't had any subs since 1995," he said. "We seek to represent the entire profession and it is always a matter of regret that anyone working in our profession is not a member of Equity.

"We would have written to her on about six different occasions reminding her about her outstanding subscription. Eventually we would have sent a letter saying we were sorry but we were taking her membership away."

The spokesman added that Hugh Grant, Hurley's former boyfriend, had resumed paying Equity subscriptions after being thrown out for non-payment.

Hurley fell foul of a strike called by the US Screen Actors' Guild, of which she is a member, when she filmed a commercial for Estée Lauder.

Hurley has since apologised and offered to pay £17,000 to the union's strike fund. She said she had been unaware of the strike and would not have made the commercial if she had known about it.

A spokeswoman for Hurley pointed out that much of the actor's work is in the US. "Elizabeth has not made a British film since 1994, so perhaps that is the reason she hasn't paid. There is no longer a closed shop or a requirement that actors have to be members of Equity."