“It was Valentines Day, and Elton John was making one last attempt at being heterosexual,” wrote the Daily Australian, reflecting on the musicians 1984 wedding to Renate Blauel. The nuptials, which are briefly recreated in the musical biopic Rocketman, came as a shock to most of the world; by that point in Johns megawatt career, the musician had shared a five-year romance with his manager John Reid and revealed he was bisexual in a 1976 interview with Rolling Stone. But he had also explained, “Id rather fall in love with a woman eventually because I think a woman probably lasts much longer than a man.”
John had met Blauel, a German-born sound engineer, while working on his Too Low for Zero album. After knowing each other about 18 months, John proposed over curry at an Indian restaurant in Sydney, and the couple married the following week—at a church in the nearby suburb of Darling Point. “I simply want to be a family man,” John explained at the time. “And Im not getting any younger.” John and Blauel managed to pull together an extravagant affair in a matter of days, thanks to Johns tour promoter at the time, Harley Medcalf.
“Oysters were flown in from New Zealand,” Medcalf told Page Six of the last-minute preparations and decadent menu, which included lobster, prawns, scallops, salmon, and a 1978 Le Montrachet Chateau des Hebeaux Jacques Prieur. Blauel wore a gown with a heart-shaped pendant containing 63 diamonds—a gift from her groom—sewn into the bodice. John, meanwhile, wore a lavender silk shirt and white coat.
“Hes the nicest guy Ive ever met,” Blauel was quoted as saying, ahead of the wedding, by the United Press International. “Ive heard all sorts of stories about Elton and that hes supposed to be bisexual, but that doesn't worry me.” Guests reportedly included Olivia Newton-John and John McEnroe, while Johns manager and ex-boyfriend John Reid served as best man.
The marriage only lasted four years, and when the couple announced their divorce, People reported that Blauel and Elton “genuinely intend to remain best of friends.” Contrary to the couples hope, however, John confessed in the 1997 documentary Tantrums and Tiaras that they had remained anything but. “I hope one day that we can meet and be friends,” he said. “We havent been in touch, weve had no contact at all which is very sad, but she wants it that way. I dont have any negative things to say about her at all."
In a 1992 interview with the Los Angeles Times, John attributed the marriage to his alcohol and drug addiction: ”Even though I knew I was gay, I thought this woman was attractive and that being married would cure me of everything wrong in my life. . .When you take that amount [of drugs and alcohol], you cant have any relationship.” In a 1996 interview with the New Yorker, he recalled once guzzling eight vodka martinis in 30 minutes, blacking out, and awaking to be told he had gotten into a fist fight with John Reid. He was also deep into cocaine addiction—eventually building up a habit that, at its worst, saw him reportedly taking it every four minutes. Of his decision to marry Blauel, John told the New Yorker, “When you take a lot of drugs, and youre out to lunch half the time. . . you think a change of scenery, Ill get another house, Ill move to another country.”
In a 2007 interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, John further explained, “A drug addict thinks like this: Ive had enough boyfriends and thats not made me happy, so Ill have a wife; that will change everything. And I loved Renate. Shes a great girl. I really, really loved her. But, youRead More – Source
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