Sir Elton John says he made “terrible” decisions on drugs that meant he treated his partners like “hostages”.
The singer has been named Time magazine's Icon of the Year, and looked back over his career highlights, as well as lows, particularly during the years he spent addicted to cocaine, which he first took in 1974.
“You make terrible decisions on drugs,” he says. “I wanted love so badly, I’d just take hostages. I’d see someone I liked and spend three or four months together, and then they would resent me because they had nothing in their life apart from me. It really upsets me, thinking back on how many people I probably hurt.”
Now 77, the singer checked into rehab in the 1990s, when he admits: “It was a shock to see how far down the scale of humanity I’d fallen. It was the most embarrassing thing in my life when I went into [drug] treatment that I couldn’t work a washing machine,” he recalls. Here you are at 43 years of age, and you can’t work a washing machine. That shows you how you’re f***ed up.’”
Now, Elton spends time helping other popstars who become addicted to drugs, including Eminem and Robbie Williams. "It’s tough to tell someone that they’re being an a--hole, and it’s tough to hear,” says Elton, who recalls of his own awakening: “Eventually I made the choice to admit that I’m being an a--hole.”
.Meanwhile, Elton says the legalisation of marijuana in parts of North America was "one of the greatest mistakes of all time".
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Photographs by Miles Aldridge (@milesaldridge) for TIME)Sir Elton told Time that it is "tough to hear" how bad your behaviour has become, and said admitting this helped him get clean. He added that marijuana is "addictive", and said: "It leads to other drugs. And when you're stoned - and I've been stoned - you don't think normally.
"Legalising marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time." In a 1999 interview with Sir David Frost, Sir Elton disclosed that his throat problems midway through an Australian tour in the mid-1980s were caused by marijuana, and said he had given up using the drug after advice from doctors. In Canada, cannabis is legal from the age of 18, with certain restrictions including the amount people can possess and distribute. Certain US states including California have restrictions on running a cannabis business, and it has been legal for recreational use for people aged 21 and over since 2018.
Sir Elton also discussed his "short fuse", saying he can snap "if I'm tired, if I'm exhausted, if I'm overwhelmed", which was explored in a 1990s documentary titled Tantrums And Tiaras.
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Photographs by Miles Aldridge (@milesaldridge) for TIME)The Icon of the Year cover is available for purchase now on The Magazine Shop through this link.
The issue will be available on newsstands beginning on Friday, December 20. Select cover wall art of the People of the Year will also be available through TIME's Cover Store.
The full interview with Sir Elton John is available to read here.
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English (US) ·