Elton John holds ‘peace talks’ with ex-wife to settle bitter legal battle out of court
Elton John and Renate Blauel on their wedding day in 1984 (Patrick Riviere/Getty)
Elton John and his ex-wife, Renate Blauel, have reportedly halted their jaundiced legal battle over claims the “Rocketman” singer breached the terms of their divorce by publicly discussing their relationship.
Blauel, 67, sought a £3 million legal claim against John at the British High Court after, the claim alleged, the singer’s biopic movie and memoir left her facing serious health problems.
But before the courts were transformed into a pinched battleground for the pair, John and Blauel have allegedly agreed to settle the case privately, sources told The Sun newspaper.
Their lawyers have until 13 October afternoon to reach a deal.
The German-born sound engineer met John in 1983, who was working on his comeback album Too Low for Zero. The pair were married for four years before the turbulent relationship fizzled out with John’s announcement that he is gay, divorcing in 1988.
Renate Blauel hoped to handle court proceedings with Elton John ‘amicably’.
According to court documents, Blauel’s lawyers hoped “to resolve it amicably”.
John married partner David Furnish in a civil partnership in 2005 following a 12-year relationship. Since having two sons together, their light basking in the warm glow of John’s spotlight is a stark contrast to that of his ex-wife.
(Georges De Keerle/Getty Images)
Indeed, it’s an unexpected cascade of events, no doubt, for John, who is named as the defendant in the legal filing. For years, Blauel has shied away from the spotlight, all while John rocketed upwards.
Nevertheless, Blauel broke the silence just less than a year after John dropped his autobiography, in which he expressed, in a hairplugs-and-all detail the gruelling experience of filing for divorce from Blauel.
“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.”
But John himself veiled their relationship in silence for years, too, only really speaking out in 2017 in an Instagram post. Calling on Australian citizens to vote for marriage equality, he reflected on the time he married Blauel in the country.
