Inside Elton John And David Furnish’s Marriage And The Ritual That’s The Secret To It All
Elton John and David Furnish have one of the longest — and one of the most adorable — marriages in the entertainment world. But how do they keep their relationship so strong after 25 years and with all the challenges fame has to offer? Well, the pair have actually provided an answer, one that doubles as an in-depth look into their marriage, and it’s very sweet.
First meeting
The couple first met in October 1993, at a party Elton threw in London. It was practically love at first sight. “I was attracted to David immediately,” Elton told Parade magazine in 2010. “He had a real job, his own apartment, a car. He was independent. I didn’t need to take care of him. I thought, ‘God, this is new territory for me — someone wants to be with me just because he likes me.’”
Difficult marriage
Finding a soulmate had been a very long road for Elton. In 1984, back when he described himself as bisexual rather than gay, he met and very quickly married a young sound engineer named Renate Blauel. But obviously it didn’t last. After four years of an increasingly strained marriage, which drew endless speculation from the tabloid newspapers, they were divorced.
Deep regret
Elton always felt terrible about Renate. He told The Australian in 2008 that his thought process at the time had been, “I’ve had enough boyfriends, and that’s not made me happy, so I’ll have a wife — that will change everything.” But of course, it didn’t. He added, “But, you know… it is one of the things I regret most in my life, hurting her.”
Tantrums, tiaras, and time
Elton put those regrets behind him and became closer and closer to David as time went on. In 1995 David began work on a warts-and-all documentary film about his partner, Tantrums & Tiaras, and when it was released two years later it was a big success. It even won David a Chris Award at the Columbus Film and Video Festival, and thus established him and Elton as a true entertainment power couple.
