Hayes married a childhood sweetheart, makeup artist Colby Taylor, in 1994. They were still married when Savage Garden “skyrocketed to fame around the globe in the late 1990s.”They separated in 1998 and were divorced in 2000. Much of the lyrics for the band’s second album, Affirmation, dealt with his divorce.He recorded Affirmation in San Francisco mid-1999 and eventually bought a house there.He also maintains a base in London since 2004.
Hayes started coming out as gay to friends and the head of his label, Sony, in the early 2000s.He married (via a civil partnership) his boyfriend of two years, Richard Cullen, on 19 June 2006 in London.Darren and Richard Cullen applied for a marriage licence in California, and were married on July 15, 2013, to show their support for those fighting for same-sex marriage rights.Hayes and Cullen currently live in America. Though public speculation about his sexual orientation had been present throughout his career, he is famous for keeping his personal life private.He announced the event the day prior on his official website.Before the announcement Cullen’s name had appeared on the website as the designer of the cover for Hayes’s single “So Beautiful”.