Elton John opens up about his turbulent yet triumphant survivor story
Elton John (left) with Taron Egerton —PARAMOUNT
(First of two parts)
LOS ANGELES—“I had everything going for me, and I nearly threw it all away,” Sir Elton John admitted in our recent London interview, where he candidly talked about the sad, turbulent and ultimately triumphant survivor story of the man behind “Rocketman.”
We interviewed the legendary singer, songwriter, pianist and composer just a few hours before the premiere of “Rocketman,” the musical-drama chronicle of his colorful life in London, where it all began.
At the Corinthia Hotel, he was already dressed for the big night at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square: blue tuxedo with wide black lapels, accessorized with three glittering bug brooches and his trademark tinted glasses. He was frank and eloquent in his answers.
The tux is by Gucci—“the family tailor,” quipped David Furnish, Elton’s partner for more than 25 years, who sat beside him that afternoon.
“It took a lot of work,” Elton began, recounting his transition from rock music’s sensation into a harrowing descent into drug addiction, bulimia and near-death from cocaine overdose and dramatic recovery, effectively captured by director Dexter Fletcher and depicted by Taron Egerton.
Today, Elton continues to shine in entertainment. He is one of the world’s top-selling music artists, and has sold more than 300 million records. He’s also a passionate philanthropist, especially toward AIDS research and prevention.
The engaging biopic details Elton’s saga, from a sad childhood with perpetually bickering parents (Bryce Dallas Howard and Steven Mackintosh as his aloof, strict dad), friendship and songwriting collaboration with Bernie Taupin (Jaime Bell) that began in 1967 and meeting John Reid, his first male lover and fearsome manager (Richard Madden).
“Rocketman” also depicts his dalliances with two women, including his marriage to Renata Blauel, and later, his marriage to former ad executive David, who’s now a filmmaker.
John (left) with husband David Furnish —PARAMOUNT
Elton, who at first claimed he was bisexual, then declared he is “quite comfortable about being gay,” and David have two sons born to the same surrogate mother, Zachary Jackson Levon (2010) and Elijah Joseph Daniel (2013).
“I had to learn to walk again,” Elton continued about his recovery from drugs, bulimia and dealing with the pressures of rapid fame. “I had to learn to become a human being again. I had to take people’s advice … and got so much great help and kindness from strangers.
“I didn’t tour for the first year of my sobriety, then went to about 1,200 AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings. I worked my butt off. I started to get better as a person.
“There are still parts of a performer that will lead you to the dark side. Then one day, I would get up and felt like the world got dark.
“But it doesn’t last long because I have David to get me out of it, and I have my children. When my children are around, I never feel dark.
“I have 8- and 6-year-old children. I would never have guessed in a million years this would ever happen to me. But it’s part of being willing to change.
“So, when I’m looking at those scenes in the movie when I am alone, that’s exactly how I was at the end of my sobriety. I was in my house in London just doing that, and I was afraid to even walk down the stairs when the house was empty, in case anybody heard me. That’s craziness.”
Earlier, inside the Palais in Cannes, it was moving to see Elton’s emotional reaction to the cheers and a standing ovation by the audience after “Rocketman’s” opening-night screening in the recent film festival on the Croisette.
“I had only seen the movie a week beforehand in Milan,” said Elton, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998. “So I was prepared for the ‘I Want Love’ (family) sequence. When I first saw that, I was on the floor with tears. I still found some of the drug situations very painful to watch.
“But the one scene that did get me was when Bernie comes to visit me in rehab, because he is the thread of the movie. Our friendship is the only thing I could seem to cling on to.
“When he came to visit, which he did in real life, it was incredibly moving for me, because in over 50 years, we’ve become closer now than we were to start with. That was the beginning of the second chapter of our lives, when he gave me the lyrics to ‘I’m Still Standing.’ I sit at the piano and go (mimes first chord) and a light comes on. And I knew I was going to get better.
Egerton (right) and Richard Madden as Elton John and John Reid, respectively, in “Rocketman” —PARAMOUNT
“And my relationship with David, which came together again, was one of the greatest things.”
The flamboyant performer reflected on surviving the AIDS outbreak in the 1980s. “I’m extremely lucky. I always say onstage that when I got sober, I was determined to do something, because I don’t think I had done enough for people with AIDS. I did a record with Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and Dionne Warwick (‘That’s What Friends Are For,’ a charity single for AIDS research). I did a couple of Elizabeth Taylor [AIDS fundraising events].
“But I wasn’t at the forefront and, as a gay man, I should have been. So, in 1992, when I set up the Elton John AIDS Foundation in Atlanta, it was something that I really wanted to do because so many of my friends had died.
“When I set up the foundation in 1992, there was no cure, no help. I was delivering meals in Atlanta, for people who were going to die in two weeks. It was an essential part for my rehabilitation, to do something for other people.
“I didn’t do enough during the 1980s, because when you’re a self-absorbed drug addict and you’re touring all the time, you lose all sense of reason, responsibility and logic.”
On watching his love scene with John Reid on the big screen, Elton stressed, “We fought for that scene. If I’m telling my life, you have to have an honest story. I was a virgin until that scene in the movie. I was desperate to be loved, to have a tactile relationship. When they tear their clothes off, that was how it happened. It was in San Francisco, actually.
“I’m so glad it’s in there because I’m a gay man … This is who I am, and I was so joyous. When he is lying in my arms and I am sitting back with a smile, I’m thinking, ah, I am normal, I have had sex. When I grew up, I didn’t have sex until I was 23.
“My father told me that if I masturbated, I’d go blind (laughs). Then, at age 13, I started to have glasses. I went, ‘Oh my God, it’s coming true’ (laughs)!
“Paramount has been wonderful this whole trip. This movie was turned down by every major studio. Jim Gianopulos, when he was at Fox, came to us with the movie, and we didn’t want to make it for $25 million. You can’t make a good movie for that [budget]. Jim came back to us when he left Fox and went to Paramount.
“The fact is that it’s the first major studio film with a gay love-sex scene in it, I’m proud of that.”
Having grown up in the unhappy marriage of his parents, Elton pointed out that he and David made it a point to raise their two kids differently.
“The unfortunate thing about my parents is they should never have married,” Elton explained. “They married after the war, very quickly, and they were completely unsuited to each other. What I’m very happy about is that both my father and mother found love in their second marriages.
“My parents didn’t get on and that was why I was unhappy. With our children, there’s no physical abuse, and we’re very open.”
“I grew up in a very supportive family, so I only knew an environment where I was told I was loved and appreciated,” David said. “Elton didn’t have that. He said, ‘Every time I went home, I was scared I wasn’t going to get my father’s approval. I don’t want my children to know fear. I only want them to know possibilities. I only want them to be the people that they are. I want to tell them that I love them every single day.’ We cuddle, watch TV and football together and, always, there are hello and goodbye hugs and kisses.”
Elton added, “It was a different time then. It was the 1950s, a very conservative era. If a girl became pregnant, it was a disgrace. When my parents wanted a divorce, I remember my mother’s brother, my uncle, saying, ‘You can’t get divorced because what will the neighbors say?’
“As I got older, I can appreciate that my parents wanted to stay together for my education. But the more they stayed together, the worse it got.
“I was in fear. I found comfort in music and my grandmother.”
(Conclusion on Friday)
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