In leaked court documents, Elton John's ex-wife, Renate Blauel, claims she attempted suicide only days into her honeymoon with the legendary singer. Earlier this year, Blauel, who was married to Elton from 1984 to 1988, began court proceedings against the “Rocketman,” seeking nearly $4 million, with inside sources claiming the suit is due to Elton writing about the marriage in his memoir and portraying their ill-fated union in his biopic — both of which were supposedly prohibited due to their divorce settlement.
It is estimated that rather than “taking Elton to the cleaners” during their divorce, Blauel received a one-time payout of between $6 and 12 million.
Elton's attorney portrayed Blauel's claims as a pure money grab, telling The Daily Mail: “(The) 'true purpose' of Ms. Blauel's claim was 'to extract a large sum of money from Elton and tarnish his name publicly with falsehoods.'”
The Daily Mail posted some of Blauel's claims in the suit, which deals with the couple only days after their 1984 wedding:
Three days into the honeymoon, and without any forewarning, the defendant told the claimant that the marriage was not working and that he wanted her to leave the property and return to England. The claimant was extremely upset. She immediately left the property to go on a walk and, upon her return, obtained Valium tablets from the luggage of (Elton associate) Mr. Halley, which she knew that he carried in case any member of the party had trouble sleeping.
She went into a spare bedroom and wrote a note to the defendant, before taking an overdose of approximately 36 Valium tablets. She quickly lost consciousness and was discovered by Mr. Halley. He alerted the defendant, who became extremely angry. Mr. Halley then drove the Claimant to a hospital in St. Tropez where she had her stomach pumped. The defendant did not visit her during her two-day stay in hospital.
Upon being discharged and, it is to be inferred, on the instructions of the defendant, Mr. Halley met the claimant at the hospital with her luggage and drove her straight to the airport where she boarded a flight back to London. After approximately one to two weeks, she was permitted to re-join the defendant on the honeymoon.
Elton and the German-born recording engineer met while she was an assistant engineer on Elton's 1983 Too Low For Zero album, which was recorded at George Martin's exclusive AIR Studios Montserrat.
The couple was married from 1984 to 1988, and in the ensuing years, Blauel has not spoken publicly about the marriage — although Elton, who is now remarried to husband David Furnish, and the father of two children — has spoken lovingly of her in both his recent memoir, Me, and portrayed her in kind in his Rocketman biopic.