Sir Elton John is being sued by his ex-wife for £3 million.

Elton, 73, tied the knot with German sound engineer Renate Blauel in Sydney, Australia, in 1984 and came out as gay in 1988 after their divorce, and Renate, 67, is now suing Elton after he wrote about their marriage in his autobiography.

According to The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column, Renate has filed documents with the High Court in London and is claiming that Elton's comments about her in the book broke the terms of an agreement they made after their split and triggered long-standing mental health issues.

A source said: ''Elton is shocked and saddened by Renate's claim, especially as he has only ever praised her publicly.

''He has always had a very pleasant relationship with Renate, respects her enormously and would never have said anything revealing about their marriage.

''He very much hopes she will see sense and drop this case.''

The court papers state that Elton agreed to remove some passages before publication of the book, 'Me', in October last year.

Elton went on to marry David Furnish in December 2014, nine years after their civil partnership ceremony, and the pair have two sons together but he has admitted to regret at causing ''sadness'' to Renee.

He previously said: ''Many years ago, I chose Australia for my wedding to a wonderful woman for whom I have so much love and admiration. I wanted more than anything to be a good husband, but I denied who I really was, which caused my wife sadness, and caused me huge guilt and regret.

''To be worthy of someone's love, you have to be brave enough and clear eyed enough to be honest with yourself and your partner.''