Elton John, who is gay, is being sued by his former wife. A lawyer representing Renate Blauel, 67, confirmed on Thursday to The Guardian that she is seeking a legal injunction against John.
Blauel's lawyer explained that the court filing is often used when privacy concerns are involved, or when there is a need to prevent certain materials from being published. The reason for the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.K., is unclear.
John and Blauel met in 1983 in London and were married on Valentine's Day the following year. They split four years later, shortly before John came out as gay. In reports, the couple vowed to remain friends, however, in the 1997 documentary "Tantrums and Tiaras," John confessed that they had not been able to do so.
"I hope one day that we can meet and be friends," he said, according to Vanity Fair. "We haven’t been in touch, we’ve had no contact at all which is very sad, but she wants it that way. I don’t have any negative things to say about her at all."
The "Candle in the Wind" singer later revealed that his decision to get married was driven by a drug and alcohol addiction.
"A drug addict thinks like this: 'I’ve had enough boyfriends, and that’s not made me happy, so I’ll have a wife — that will change everything,” John said in a 2008 interview, per Fox News. "And I loved Renate. She’s a great girl. I really, really loved her. But, you know … it is one of the things I regret most in my life, hurting her."
Several years later John married longtime partner David Furnish. They now share two sons together: Zachary, 9, and Elijah, 7.
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Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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