DEF LEPPARD Singer's Ex-Wife: 'He Was The Love Of My Life'

Joe Elliott's ex-wife Karla Elliott recently spoke to Barry Egan of Indepedent.ie about her eight-year marriage (1989-1997) to the DEF LEPPARD singer, whom she began dating in 1986.

"I was madly in love with him," she said, "He was the love of my life." They married in his hometown in the late Eighties. "I remember coming out of the registry office in Sheffield and looking at the wall with all the graffiti on it and going: 'This is romantic!'" she laughed. "I think it was 1989? I'm not sure. I am brutal on remembering dates. I really haven't a clue what date I married Joe. That will tell you something."

She continued, "There were lots of private jets and it was great fun and everything but I think you are either the type of person that adapts to whatever is going on in your life at the time or you're not. I think that's when people run into problems: when they get so caught up in something and they believe it's real. For me, I adapt to whatever is going on in my world. I travelled as a child a lot and stayed in five-star hotels with my parents. So it didn't seem odd to me, that whole life."

She said initially neither Joe nor herself wanted kids. But once Karla was married, she started thinking: 'Maybe it would be nice.'

"That," she said, "is the natural progression of any relationship. But he was adamant that he didn't want any. I think he is very much a Peter Pan-type character," she theorized. "He wants to be young and the centre of attention all the time. And if you have kids you can't be like that. You have to be not selfish. It was interesting to see other band members were having kids and we were still touring. Maybe it is a lead singer thing. It is his choice and he is entitled to it."

Karla claims it was also her husband's choice to have an affair with another woman, Bobbie Tolsma. "I was broken-hearted," she said. "It was such a hazy time for me because I was in such shock."

"I don't want to look bitter," Karla continued. "I'm not. It is all water under the bridge... I don't give a shit about Joe.

"I don't want to drag those emotions up because it is in my past. I look forward. I don't look back and start dwelling on things. That's not the kind of person I am."

Read the entire article from Indepedent.ie.