Elton John has made headlines for helping out his ex-fiancee with some medical expenses 50 years after they split. According to Britain's Daily Express, the 76-year-old Linda Woodrow Hanlon, who was engaged to the pre-fame “Rocketman” in the late-1960's, reached out to Elton to help pay for her knee surgery. Hanlon — who now lives in Dallas and is the manager of a doctor's office — still refers to Elton by his given named Reg, and recalled, “I sent a couple of emails to his management and put in a couple of details that only Reg might remember. They were little things I did to prove who I was. But I never heard anything back.”
She went on to say, “When Reg started out, I was paying the rent, paying the bills and paying for the food. . . We were weeks from getting married. We had new furniture and a flat in north London. His mother had even ordered the cake.” Finally, Elton's team responded, explaining he would be happy to help her out financially: “I am so touched by Reg. After all these years. It's so kind. I am thrilled to bits that he is offering to help.”
A source told The Express: “When Elton heard about Linda's plight he didn't hesitate for a second to help out. He remembers how good she was 50-years ago-when he needed the support and is really pleased to be able to help her in her hour of need.”
Perhaps the most important thing to come out of Elton John's short-lived relationship with Linda Woodrow Hanlon was Elton and Bernie Taupin's 1975 classic, “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.” The song was based on Elton's half-hearted suicide attempt in an effort to escape the impending clutches of marriage. During a recent chat on CBS Sunday Morning, Bernie Taupin offered up the back-story for the song: “I wrote it from his point of view, which was a very, sort of (laughs) comical incident of him being depressed and attempting — a very, very feeble attempt, I might add — at suicide. Leaving the windows open when the oven's on (laughter). . . I'm going in and go, 'What are you doing? Get off the floor. This is silly.' But, it was a serious cry for help, so it made a good ingredient for a song.”
