Darren Hayes first relocated to America in 1999 while he was still part of Savage Garden, according to the singer's official site. Until 2004, he lived in San Francisco. Later that same year, he relocated to the United Kingdom. There, he married his partner Richard Cullen in 2005. In 2006, once his civil partnership was officially recognized, he publically came out. "When Britain's civil partnership law was passed, I leapt at the chance to be involved because so many people had fought hard for us to have that basic right," Hayes told Pink News back in 2012. "Today I have British citizenship, I have a British passport, I have healthcare, I have all the things that come from marrying a British person, just like anyone else would."
Hayes continued touring and releasing albums during this time but, by 2012, he temporarily retired. He didn't feel the spark in the music industry any longer, and he wanted to support his screenwriter husband, so the pair moved to Los Angeles (via Attitude). At first, Hayes had trouble settling down into retired life in the states. "I was deeply depressed. I had plans to open up a comic book store, thought that's what I was going to do," he admitted to The Sydney Morning Herald.
