Elton John finds his recent eyesight loss to be “distressing.”
“I can see you, but I can’t see TV, I can’t read,” John, 78, told a Times of London reporter in a profile published on Friday, April 4. “I can’t see my boys playing rugby and soccer, and it has been a very stressful time because I’m used to soaking it all up.”
He added, “It’s distressing. You get emotional, but you have to get used to it because I’m lucky to have the life I have. I still have my wonderful family, and I can still see something out of [my left eye]. So you say to yourself, ‘Just get on with it.’”
John — who shares sons Zachary, 14, and Elijah, 12, with husband David Furnish — lost most of his eyesight in 2024 after an eye infection.
“I had an infection in the South of France,” John said on Good Morning America in November 2024. “It’s been four months since I haven’t been able to see, and my left eye’s not the greatest. I’m, kind of, stuck in the moment.”
At the time, John wasn’t sure if he’d be able to continue making music.
“I can’t see a lyric, for start. We’re taking an initiative to try and get it better, but at the moment, that’s really what we’re concentrating on,” John revealed on GMA. “It’s never fortunate for anything like this to happen. It kinda floored me, and I can’t see anything. I can’t read anything, I can’t watch anything.”
John, luckily, could continue performing. His newest album, Who Believes in Angels?, is a collaboration with Brandi Carlile and dropped on Friday.
“I knew her because I had bought her album and she’s the most remarkable singer, so I said, ‘Absolutely, but you’ll have to come to Vegas because I’m stuck here.’ We became friends and I took an interest in where she was going,” John told The Times. “I even bought her an electric guitar. People thought Who Believes in Angels? would be Americana, laid-back. No. It’s upbeat and rocking.”
According to John, he didn’t always agree with his fellow songwriters.
“They stood up to me and I got frustrated, but it’s no good working with ‘yes people.’ If I want to make a great album aged 76 or 77, I’ve got to be told and they put up with my little foibles, which were really about anxiety, self-doubt and not feeling very well at the time,” John said. “I was tired, so I thought, ‘I’m going to abandon this. ‘The problem was three other people were involved, and I knew that if I walked away from it, I would hate myself for the rest of my life.”
While John hopes to continue making music and performing, his family life is infinitely more important.
“I always said I wanted to die on stage. Now I want my gravestone to read, ‘He was a great dad,’” John stated. “My career has been wonderful, but the kids are what matters.”
According to John, he and his husband are focused on “making sure” Zachary and Elijah will be alright.
“We’re making sure they’re OK, making sure they’re appreciative and not spoiling them too much because, you know, I’m Elton John,” the singer concluded.
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