Elton John has been chosen by the magazine time as the icon of 2024, a year in which he has won everything. At the beginning of January he joined the group EGOT, that is, an artist who has won the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. But the voice of ‘Cold Heart’ is going through a complex stage after partially losing his vision due to an eye infection. The publication looked for him at his residence and reviewed his life divided into two moments: pre-sobriety and post-sobriety.
“The most embarrassing thing in my life was not knowing how to operate a washing machine when I went into (drug) treatment. ‘I thought: ‘Fuck. Here you are, at 43 years old, and you don’t know how to operate a washing machine. “That shows how screwed you are,” he told Time.
The 77-year-old singer “doesn’t hear very well or walk with confidence,” says journalist Belinda Luscombe. “Corrective surgery a few years ago made glasses primarily a cosmetic option, but a recent eye infection damaged the optic nerve in his right eye and it is taking a while to heal. “Her husband (David Furnish) is determined to be optimistic about it.”
In the interview, Elton John recalled the conflictive relationship with his mother, despite having been close. Sheila Farebrother supported him since he was a child to dedicate himself to music. “She meant a lot to me, but my success changed her.” The singer took financial responsibility for her, but did not approve of her relationship with Furnish. “She was probably one of the biggest liars I’ve ever met. But that’s because she was a sociopath, and I came to understand that.”
For his 90th birthday, Farebrother hired an Elton John impersonator and invited the press. “I called her the next day to wish her a happy birthday. I asked him how it went,” says the singer. “And she told me it was great. He’s as good as you.”
Your “post-sobriety” life
In the publication they remember that Elton John helped several of his colleagues quit drugs, but he could not help George Michael, who died on Christmas 2016. “It’s hard to tell someone that they’re being an asshole, and it’s hard to hear it. In the end I made the decision to admit that I was being an idiot,” he says.
As someone who has been pushed to the limit by addiction, Elton John is against the legalization of drugs, even marijuana. “I maintain that it is addictive. Leads to other drugs. And when you’re high – and I’ve been high – you don’t think normally. “Legalizing marijuana in the United States and Canada is one of the biggest mistakes of all time.”
The British singer dislikes television and, true to his convictions, he has rejected offers to be a program judge. Regarding music and his life, he confesses that he has not lost the excitement of making a new album and is reflecting even more. “I don’t really believe too much in the biblical God, but I have faith. My higher power has taken care of me my entire life; It helped me overcome drugs, depression, loneliness and sobriety. I think it’s been there all along. “I just didn’t recognize it.”
But he doesn’t want his children to enter the industry. “I have lived an incredible life, but it has been a terrible and exhausting life. “I wouldn’t want them to have so much pressure.” But what does the icon of the year expect? It would be enough, he says, “if people remember that we tried to change the world a little, that we were kind, that we tried to help. And then, apart from that, there was the music.” Dressed in lilac, he returned to the stage with a special performance at the Time dinner.
