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Sir Elton John has revealed an ex-lover of his committed suicide.
The pop star was left devastated by the death of his lover who hurled himself under an oncoming vehicle and admits the tragedy still affects him now.
Elton and his husband David Furnish are among several producers of new Broadway play 'Next Fall' - which focuses on a relationship between two gay men which is turned upside down by a serious accident - and the 'Rocket Man' singer admits it was his own painful personal experience which motivated him to get involved with the project.
Elton - who came out in the late 80s - told New York Post columnist Cindy Adams: "David saw it several times. I read it several times. There is some of us in it. Years back I had a relationship, and I had absolutely no idea in the world he was going to do this... he threw himself under a truck. There was so much grief.
"Look, we all need love. We all have the same fears and insecurities. We should all be allowed to be free."
The play's storyline follows the five-year relationship between devout Christian Luke and committed atheist Adam, when Luke is seriously injured Adam has to turn to his partner's homophobic parents for support.
David thinks the play's message has never been more poignant following the ongoing developments regarding gay rights in the US, which include Proposition 8 the constitutional amendment passed in California in 2008 which outlawed same sex marriages in the state.
The Canadian filmmaker said: "It's the right timing for this. The religious divide between right and left has gotten wider, and so the rights of gay people never got back to where it was heading."
'Next Fall' opened on Thursday night (11.03.10) at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York and both Elton and David were present.
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Mark Owen is being helped by Robbie Williams in his battle to beat alcoholism.
The Take That star - who yesterday (11.03.10) confessed he has cheated on his wife Emma Ferguson with at least 10 women throughout the course of their long-term relationship - has confessed he's had issues with his drinking for years but is trying desperately to overcome his problem.
Former bandmate Robbie - who has been in rehab twice to tackle drink and drug addictions - has been in regular contact with his friend and has told him he can stay at his Los Angeles mansion if he needs to.
Mark - who has now also come clean about his problem with the rest of Take That, Gary Barlow, Jason Orange and Howard Donald - told The Sun newspaper: "I told the lads a few weeks ago that I am trying to deal with a drink problem. I spoke to Rob about it too. I admitted I had a drink problem I never knew I had. I'm glad I've told them, so they look after me a bit now. I still have the odd drink but it might have to turn to cold turkey eventually."
A source added: "Mark has confessed to having issues with alcohol and with his own substance abuse past, Robbie is the perfect person to offer him support."
Despite admitting he has an issue with alcohol, Mark doesn't want to use it as an "excuse" for his infidelities, which include a five-year affair with former lover, accounts manager Neva Hanley.
He said: "I've been living with the guilt. Maybe the drink was my way of dealing with it, I don't know. I want to make it absolutely clear I am not using the drink as an excuse. My drinking is another problem I have and it hasn't helped. But I'm not blaming everything on it."
Emma threw Mark out of their south London home after the 38-year-old pop star confessed to his infidelities, and she was photographed yesterday (11.03.10) without her wedding ring as Mark went back to the house for crisis talks.
The couple have two children, son Elwood, three, and 14-month-old daughter Willow Rose.
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Cheryl Cole has fallen ill with bronchitis.
The 'Parachute' singer - who has had a turbulent few weeks after dumping husband Ashley Cole following revelations he cheated on her with several women - has been forced to cancel two public appearances as she battles the lung infection.
Cheryl was due to film an interview on British talk show 'Friday Night with Jonathan Ross' last night (11.03.10), to be aired tonight (12.03.10), and was scheduled to perform live on UK station Radio One today.
The 26-year-old pop star is apparently so unwell she can't even leave her house.
A source said: "Cheryl has been a trouper up until now but the pressure has finally got to her. She is very sick and feeling very, very low. The bronchitis has knocked her off her feet."
Last night, her spokesperson confirmed Cheryl had been forced to withdraw from her pre-arranged appearances.
The spokesperson said: "Cheryl has had to postpone all promotion until she is better."
Cheryl's estranged spouse Ashley is apparently desperate to fly over from France - where he is currently being treated for a broken ankle - so he can meet up with the 'Fight for This Love' singer.
The England soccer player is due to be checked over by medics later today, and has a car on standby to take him to the airport as soon as he gets the all-clear.
A fellow patient at the sports injury clinic said: "There is a car on standby and a plane waiting to go. It is like a military operation.
"He's had a long time to think about what he wants to say to his wife. Now he just wants to get on with it.
"I don't know what he'll do if doctors say he needs to stay. He'll probably sneak off to the roof and be whisked away by helicopter."
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Sharon Osbourne thinks Simon Cowell and his fiancee Mezhgan Hussainy are "perfect" for each other.
The TV star - who is a judge on Simon's show 'America's Got Talent' and was previously on the judging panel of his UK programme 'The X Factor' - has met Mezghan and thinks Simon has found his 'Miss Right'.
She said: "I know her, she's an extremely classy and elegant woman. I think they're a perfect couple and they bring out the best in each other."
Sharon, 57, insists she has always been on good terms with Simon, despite her exit from 'The X Factor' in 2008, but doesn't think she would ever make a return to the pop search show.
She said: "Simon likes to be around beautiful young women. That's not me and I'm too much of a loose cannon. He doesn't want me telling him there's something wrong with his baby. Not that there is, but he never knows what's coming out of my mouth. He likes to know what's coming next."
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Sophie Dahl almost started a business with a man on death row.
The supermodel-turned-cook book author - who lives in New York with her husband Jamie Cullum - was written to by a convicted US criminal, who made contact with her from prison and asked her to help him with his new company.
She said: "I ended up on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice website because I received a letter out of the blue, via an agent, from a guy in jail - housed in a Texan facility. What he wrote was in equal parts unsettling, contradictory and heartbreaking, a personal account that stayed in my thoughts for a long time. I don't know why he picked me, and it took me a long time to decide not to write back. The thing he was proposing (an entrepreneurial business plan on his part) would, I think, have compromised my safety. It would have been a bit mad to comply with it."
Although she refused his offer, the 32-year-old beauty considered posting him a parcel filled with books to fill his time, but changed her mind because she got paranoid he would track her down.
She explained to Vogue magazine: "I thought about anonymously sending him some books instead. Then I got neurotic and wondered how many other young women in New York he had written to, and I figured that if it were none, he'd know for certain I was the correspondent. Even in the face of a plain brown package, the New York postage would be the giveaway. Besides, the deciding factor in all this was that I looked him up on the correctional-facility website, discovered that the crimes he was in prison for were pretty hard to get past and that he was also on death row."
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