A Sun article containing private information about Hugh Grant rushing to hospital has been defended by showbiz editor Gordon Smart.

He told the Leveson Inquiry that he had discussed the story - published in March 2011 - with his team and decided that it was in the public interest given Grant’s celebrity status and the fact that he was in a public place.

The article described Grant as feeling faint and short of breath and sat “without making any fuss” in a hospital waiting room. It also states that a spokesman for the actor was approached for comment but that this was declined.

Smart said that he had a “duty to his readers” to publish the story. He added: “I’m not passing the buck - I handled it very sensitively…It appeared on page three as a six-par story. It was probably the least important story on that page.”

He agreed with Mr Jay, counsel to the inquiry, when the point of Grant’s level of celebrity was raised, admitting that this tipped the balance in publishing the story.

Grant described how details of his medical records had been published in the Sun and Daily Express when he gave evidence to the inquiry in November last year.

He told Lord Justice Leveson that he had suffered from years of press invasion into his private life, included intrusion into his relationship with Tinglan Hong, the mother of his baby daughter, and being chased by paparazzi photographers on numerous occasions.

Grant also told the inquiry that he believed members of the press was responsible for a break-in at his London flat in 1995, after details of the interior were described in a national paper.