Just a single look at Sir Elton John and husband David Furnish will convince you that you are witnessing one of the best love stories in the world of celebrities. The two met some 27 years ago and are going strong as day one.
However, not many know that the famous musician was married before he came out as gay.
Back in 1984, John, who was openly speaking of being bisexual, got married to Renate Blauel. Speaking of the decision to tie the knot with her, John told Los Angeles Times, as quoted by Entertainment Weekly, “Even though I knew I was gay, I thought this woman was attractive and that being married would cure me of everything wrong in my life…”
During a 1976 interview with Rolling Stone, he said, “I’d rather fall in love with a woman eventually because I think a woman probably lasts much longer than a man.”
Blauel spoke of John too and dubbed him the nicest guy she had ever met.
Sadly, the two called it quits and divorced just four years later, and Blauel kept a low profile and stayed out of the spotlight. But just last year, she caught the attention of the public eye when she filed a lawsuit against John, asking for £3 million in damages after he spoke of their marriage publicly and published intimate details of their relationship in his book Me and the movie Rocketman, thus breached their divorce deal.
According to the legal papers filed at the High Court in London, while the couple was on their honeymoon in France, John told Blauel how their marriage wasn’t working and asked from her to return to London, which lead to her trying to take her own life. She recalled taking an overdose of Valium.
The Academy award-wining musician’s ex wife also claimed she suffered mental brakes after details of her marriage to John emerged.
In his memoir, John spoke of the regret and the guilt he felt for hurting his ex-wife. He even said he hoped the two would remain good friends and that she will meet his children one day. “I wanted her to be part of our lives, and us part of hers, in some way,” he wrote, according to The Independent. “But she didn’t want to and I didn’t push the issue. I have to respect how she feels.”
At the moment, the legal proceedings against Sir Elton John are still underway and we are eagerly waiting for the outcome.