Elton John’s husband did speak freely with journalists, trial hears

Elton John‘s husband spoke ‘freely and openly’ with journalists, his privacy trial heard yesterday.

Ulla Kloster, a former diary journalist with the Daily Mail, said she disputed David Furnish’s evidence that he did not disclose ‘private information’ to reporters.

She said Mr Furnish had spoken to her at a party at the Mirabelle restaurant in Mayfair, west London, when he discussed his wish to be legally married to Sir Elton.

Sir Elton and Mr Furnish are among seven public figures, including Prince Harry, who have accused the Daily Mail and The Mail On Sunday of unlawful information gathering.

Associated Newspapers, which publishes both titles, denies that its journalists commissioned private detectives to hack voicemails, intercept landline calls, and ‘blag’ their private information.

During his evidence to the privacy trial, Mr Furnish said he did not willingly speak with journalists, but would make small talk at Press functions.

David Sherborne, for the claimants, asked Ms Kloster if she disputed that account. She responded: ‘I do.’

Elton John and David Furnish at Paris Men’s Fashion Week in January 

During re-examination by Antony White KC, for Associated, she said: ‘He spoke to me about other things which were private, or if they were not private, they were about their life, their lives together.

‘I wrote a story about whether they wished to get married, his thoughts on that, because at the time that was a big issue.

‘And so when I saw him at a party, in fact at the Mirabelle restaurant, I walked up to him with a friend of mine and asked him, and he answered freely and openly, and I wrote the story, and I quoted him correctly. And that was very… that was their private life.

‘Yes, they… they would like to get married, if they could, in a civil case. So he spoke openly to me, he answered all my questions, and gave me something substantial to write about, and he was very happy to do so.’

The trial continues.