Elton John’s ex-wife sues singer for £3m

By MiNDFOOD

Elton John’s ex-wife sues singer for £3m
Sir Elton John’s ex-wife is suing the singer for allegedly breaking the terms of their divorce deal.

Renate Blauel is reportedly seeking around £3 million, claiming passages that revealed details of her marriage to John in his memoir Me and the film Rocketman broke an agreement they made when they divorced in 1988.

Blauel claims the disclosures triggered long-standing mental health problems, with the release of the film causing a “devastating mental relapse” with “recurring nightmares, agoraphobia, anxiety, depression, fear”.

John’s defence denied any breaches of the divorce agreement, or causing “psychological harm”.

Papers filed at London’s High Court reveal John agreed to remove some passages from his autobiography referring to Blauel before it was published.

Blauel claims that the passages that remained “seriously misrepresented the nature of their relationship”.

She alleges that during their marriage the couple had attempted to have children, but John had claimed in his book that he did not intend to start a family when he entered the marriage.

Blauel also claimed she was not consulted about her appearance in Rocketman, although the marriage only took up less than five minutes of screen time.

She said that the release of the movie and memoir had resulted in a journalist “trying to locate her in her local village” which had caused her “great anxiety”.

Blauel’s lawyer Yisrael Hiller said the film was ‘particularly upsetting’ for his client, and claimed John had “ignored” his promise to keep details of their marriage private.

“In her mind, the film seeks to portray their marriage as a sham, which she wholeheartedly disputes and considers a false and disrespectful portrayal of their time together,” Hiller said.

“All of these breaches have caused her tremendous harm, suffering and damage and she has had enough. Renate wants the privacy that was promised to her – that is why she is seeking an injunction. Any claim for monetary relief is secondary, and would just cover damages and future expenses caused by Elton’s breaches.”

Blauel and John were married for four years, from 1984 to 1988. John came out as gay after their divorce.

Blauel appears on eight pages of John’s memoir, and is described in positive ways throughout the book.

John refers to her as being “dignified”, “decent” and “someone I couldn’t fault in any way”.

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