Sir Elton John’s husband has told their privacy trial of the “heartbreak” at the publication of details about the surrogate birth of their son despite a “military operation” to keep them secret.
David Furnish told the High Court that “alarming news” from Elizabeth Hurley 11 years later, led to concerns that details of the birth and John’s history of medical problems were unlawfully obtained by the media.
Furnish, 63, John, 78, Hurley, 60, and Prince Harry, 41, are amongst the celebrities bringing a privacy claim against Associated Newspapers. The publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday denies wrongdoing.
The ten articles complained about by John and Furnish included one published after the birth of their son on Christmas Day 2010. The headline read: “Elton: I’m the daddy; He is named as ‘Father’ of surrogate son on official document, and David Furnish is ‘Mother’.”
Furnish, a film producer, told the court on Thursday: “This was the article where they published Zachary’s birth certificate. It was heartbreaking.
“This whole situation was outrageous because, throughout the entire planning and incredibly private process of having a surrogate carry our child, our number one priority was to protect the surrogate … We ran the process like a military operation. The world had no idea we were having a baby, and we wanted to keep it that way.”
A court sketch of David Furnish, who gave evidence via weblink
PA
He added: “It has outraged us that our family home was violated and our son’s birth certificate stolen before we even had a chance to see it ourselves.”
• Liz Hurley: I didn’t want my son to hear secret about his father
Associated Newspapers has told the court the birth certificate was provided by the Los Angeles Local Registrar’s Office following a legitimate request by a journalist.
Furnish, giving evidence via video link, said they assumed that information about their private lives was the result of leaks.
In 2021 Hurley called to say that a private investigator called Gavin Burrows admitted hacking their calls. Burrows has since claimed his apparent admission was “forged” and has denied working for Associated, the court has heard.
Furnish and John also complain about an article headlined “Princes and Palace clash on ‘all-night’ Diana party” about a ten-year anniversary tribute concert for Harry’s mother in 2007.
Elizabeth Hurley is among the celebrities suing the publishers of the Daily Mail for alleged unlawful information gathering
LEON NEAL/GETTY IMAGES
John’s Candle in the Wind tribute song following Diana’s death is the biggest-selling UK single.
“Elton has huge affection for both of the boys [Princes William and Harry] given the terrible loss they endured and the challenges they faced losing their mother at such a young age, and so publicly,” said Furnish.
“But these would have all been behind-the-scenes conversations and directly between Harry and Elton. They would have been private between them.”
• Sadie Frost leaves court in tears after giving evidence in hacking case
Furnish said in a witness statement: “Elton and I are profoundly affected by the uncertainty of not knowing how many times we were targeted, especially in relation to Elton’s medicals because he was always in and out of hospital.”
He continued: “It has outraged us that our family home was violated and our son’s birth certificate stolen before we even had a chance to see it ourselves and Elton’s medicals were ransacked with impunity.”
Furnish said Associated “published countless judgmental and narrow-minded stories about us, pieces clearly designed to undermine who we are and how we live our lives”.
He continued: “To know that they were enabled to do this to us through stolen information, and setting private investigators on us, and landline tapping and recording our live telephone calls is an abomination.”
The trial continues.