Why did Elton’s husband buy a £330k f lat for personal trainer?
IT’S always nice to have friends who’ve got a few spare quid to splash out.
Just ask personal trainer Danny Williams, 33, who became a close pal of Sir Elton John’s husband David Furnish.
The pair met in a Soho nightclub three years ago and since then he has enjoyed a bit of a jet set lifestyle, dining at high-end restaurants and visiting luxury resorts.
Film producer Mr Furnish, 52, is even said to have bought – and decorated – a £330,000 flat in South London for his openly gay friend.
The friendship grew after Mr Williams, then a dancer, met Mr Furnish in a Soho club in 2012. The pair posed for photographs that were later posted on Facebook.
Just two months later Mr Williams had flown off to Portofino in Italy with Mr Furnish and a group of friends.
The group lounged on the luxury yacht Hercules in the Mediterranean before travelling to the Greek island of Mykonos while Sir Elton was on his Greatest Hits tour. Mr Fur- nish was pictured on the same boat with Sir Elton and their sons Zachary, four and Elijah, two, off the French coast last year. The friendship continued into 2013 when Mr Williams posted pictures online with a group of friends enjoying dinner at Mr Furnish’s marital home in West London.
Mr Williams, from Leeds, joined the film producer in Hawaii for his 51st birthday in October 2013 after flying first class from Heathrow to LA. One picture shows the friends sitting next to each other at the Nobu Waikiki restaurant in Honolulu with four other men and a woman.
Land Registry documents show Mr Furnish bought the property in 2013, registering it to Rocket Pictures, a company owned by Mr Furnish and Sir Elton. Friends said Mr Williams, who now works as a personal trainer for Virgin Active, pays rent to his celebrity landlord. Mr Williams, who has appeared in gay magazines, has a son, 12, and daughter, 10, from a previous relationship.
Describing the friendship, a source told The Sun: ‘Furnish and Danny were close and went out a lot on the gay scene. Elton would not be there as he does not like clubbing and was often away touring and working.’
The source added: ‘He [Williams] ended up in a lovely flat which David sorted for him, as well as having some great trips abroad.’
Mr Furnish married Sir Elton, 68, at a lavish ceremony in December last year, with a host of celebrities in attendance. The couple’s sons, who were born to a surrogate mother, were ringbearers at the ceremony.
Mr Williams told The Sun: ‘We were just friends, that’s all we ever was. I’m friends with both (Sir Elton and Mr Furnish).’
He refused to comment on whether he paid rent to Mr Furnish. Representatives f or Sir Elton and Mr Furnish declined to comment.