Why IS Elton’s ex-wife taking him to court after 32 YEARS?
SHE has lived a quiet life out of the public eye since her divorce from Sir Elton John in 1988.
But more than three decades on from their split, Renate Blauel has gone to the High Court to launch legal action against the singer.
The German-born sound engineer, 67, who divorced Sir Elton after four years of marriage, is seeking an injunction against her ex-partner.
The reason for the application, filed on June 16, is unclear – but Miss Blauel is ‘hoping to resolve it amicably’, according to a statement from her lawyer made to The Guardian newspaper.
The pair met in 1983 when Miss Blauel was working on Sir Elton’s comeback album Too Low For Zero.
They married on Valentine’s Day the following year at St Mark’s church in Sydney while Sir Elton was touring Australia.
After their divorce, US magazine People reported that Miss Blauel had said they ‘genuinely intend to remain the best of friends’. Sir Elton later came out as gay.
And as recently as 2017 it seemed the pair were on amicable terms – after Sir Elton addressed his first marriage in an Instagram post urging Australians to vote in favour of same-sex marriage.
He wrote: ‘Many years ago, I chose Australia for my wedding to a wonderful woman for whom I have so much love and admiration. I wanted more than anything to be a good husband, but I denied who I really was, which caused my wife sadness and caused me huge guilt and regret.’
Interest in Miss Blauel, who has rarely been heard from in public since the split, was renewed after the release of Sir Elton’s hit musical biopic Rocketman last year, in which she appears fleetingly. Miss Blauel, played by Celinde Schoenmaker, is seen forming a bond with Taron Egerton’s Sir Elton in the recording studio – before the scene cuts to the pair emerging from a church as husband and wife.
Sir Elton, 73, also wrote about his relationship with Miss Blauel in his autobiography last year. He spoke of his former wife’s heartbreak at their split
‘I wanted to be a good husband’
and of inviting her to meet his and husband David Furnish’s sons Zachary, nine, and sevenyear-old Elijah.
‘I’d broken the heart of someone I loved and who loved me unconditionally, someone I couldn’t fault in any way,’ he wrote. ‘Despite all the pain, there was no acrimony involved at all. For years afterwards, whenever something happened to me, the Press would turn up on her doorstep, looking for her to dish the dirt, and she never, ever has: She told them to leave her alone.’
He added: ‘When I had children, I invited her to Woodside [his home] because I wanted her to meet them; I wanted to see her, I wanted her to be part of our lives, and us part of hers, in some way. But she didn’t want to, and I didn’t push the issue. I have to respect how she feels.’
Sir Elton revealed he was bisexual in a 1976 interview, but said he thought love with a woman ‘probably lasts much longer than a man’.
Miss Blauel was aware of his sexual orientation before they married and was quoted as saying: ‘I’ve heard all sorts of stories about Elton and that he’s supposed to be bisexual, but that doesn’t worry me.’
A spokesman for Sir Elton would not say if the legal case is linked to the film Rocketman.