Elton John and husband David Furnish take Daily Mail to court over privacy breaches

Sir Elton John and his husband, David Furnish, have gone to the High Court in London, accusing Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday of violating their privacy. The couple, along with Prince Harry, Elizabeth Hurley, and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, are seeking justice for articles they claim were based on illegally obtained information.

In a witness statement, Furnish described the long and painful history with the publications. “Even though the paper has partially moved with the times, it published countless judgmental and narrow-minded stories clearly designed to undermine who we are and how we live our lives,” he said.

Furnish cited a December 2010 article as an example, in which the Daily Mail published their son’s birth certificate before the couple had even received it. “The world had no idea we were having a baby. Everything leading up to the birth was like a military operation. For the Mail to access it before us was outrageous, invasive, and upsetting. We kept asking, ‘If they can get this, what else can they get?’”

Another incident, reported in August 2015, involved an emergency ambulance trip. “I had never seen anyone in so much pain as Elton was then. None of this was public — it was completely private,” Furnish explained. At the time, the couple assumed the leak came from someone in the ambulance or hospital, but the exact source remained unknown.

Furnish stressed the emotional toll of the uncertainty. “Elton and I have been profoundly affected by not knowing how many times we were targeted, especially regarding Elton’s medical information. We still don’t know what was really done to us,” he said.

Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) strongly denies all allegations. Lawyers for the publisher told the court that the claims by Furnish and Elton are “unsupported by any evidence and utterly baseless.”

The trial is ongoing and is expected to conclude in March 2026.