[source: Hulton Archive – Getty]

It wasn’t easy for gay men to come out, especially when their careers relied heavily on public support, in the 1980s.

Many, including Freddie Mercury and Elton John, married women, before admitting their homosexuality and filing for divorce.

In both cases, the separation appeared amicable.

Elton John met Renate Blauel, a German-born sound engineer, when he was recording his album Too Low for Zero in 1983. They married the following year.

The relationship ended in 1988, following which John announced that he was gay, and went on to meet his husband David Furnish, with whom he has two children.

Now, seemingly out of the blue, Blauel has launched legal proceedings against him, reports The Guardian.

Blauel filed the legal paperwork last week and is seeking an injunction against her former partner, according to filings seen by the Guardian.

Blauel has rarely been heard from in public since the divorce, although there was renewed interest in her relationship with John after it was briefly depicted in last year’s biopic Rocketman, in which she was played by Celinde Schoenmaker.

John is named as the defendant in the legal filings. His representatives declined to comment on the case.

The reason for the injunction is unclear. An injunction either prohibits or requires someone to do something.

Blauel’s lawyer confirmed she had filed the paperwork. He declined to expand on why she had felt the need to seek a high court injunction against her ex-husband after decades of silence, but said she was “hoping to resolve it amicably”.

In his autobiography, released last year, John expressed his anguish at his divorce from Blauel amidst struggles to accept his sexuality.

“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.”

He has had limited contact with her over the years.

“I saw her once after we divorced … When I had children, I invited her to [John’s home] Woodside because I wanted her to meet them; I wanted to see her, I wanted her to be part of our lives, and us part of hers, in some way,” he wrote. “But she didn’t want to, and I didn’t push the issue. I have to respect how she feels.”

It’s also unclear whether or not Blauel agreed to be portrayed in the Elton John biopic, or his biography, which may be at the centre of the case.

I’m sure all will be revealed in time.

[source:guardian]