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Elton John reflected on fame, family, and his journey to self-acceptance at the Toronto Film Festival premiere of Elton John: Never Too Late.
He emphasised the importance of honesty alongside fame, saying:”Fame is a dangerous thing if you don’t have something else, and that something else is honesty, and if you don’t have honesty to go with fame, then you’re going to be in real, real trouble, like I was before I got sober in 1990. It’s been 34 years now.”
John prioritises family, including his husband David Furnish and their two sons, over his illustrious music career:
“My life turned around. The thing I know about the movie the most is I have him [Furnish], I have my two sons, I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved… This is the greatest feeling I have had in my life, more than having the first No. 1 album on Billboard. Yeah, that was really nice for about five minutes. This is a lifetime… The love I have for this family, my children and my friends, has never been better. And listen, I’m 77 years old and I’m having the best time of my life.”
The musician hopes to be remembered for his personal life, not just his professional achievements:
“On my tombstone, I don’t want it to say he sold a million records. I just want it to say he was a great dad and great husband.”
Additionally, the documentary explores John’s struggles with addiction and his journey to self-acceptance after coming out in 1976, “I didn’t feel as if I was hiding, but I was just very forlorn in thinking am I ever going to find someone, being how famous I am and with my sexuality… It took me so long to tell the truth, and it made me so unhappy, and it was so stupid, the amount of years that I lost by not telling the truth and by fooling myself. And when I stopped fooling myself, my life turned around.”