Sir Elton John: Losing my eyesight is ‘devastating’

Sir Elton John has told how his celebrity friends such as Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Mick Jagger often check in with him as he deals with losing his sight in one eye.

Sir Elton said he “lost my right eye and my left eye’s not so good” but he is hopeful that “some day science will help me with this one”.

The music star, who has just announced that he will headline a festival in Brazil next year, told US magazine Variety: “It’s been devastating.

“The last 15 months have been challenging for me because I haven’t been able to see anything, watch anything, read anything.

“I’ve had the most incredible life, and there is hope. I’ve just got to be patient that some day science will help me with this one.”

Sir Elton said he liked staying in touch with his friends such as singers Chappell Roan and Brandi Carlile online as it was easier to see them on a screen than in person.

“The thing with my iPad is, I can actually see someone close up,” he said.

“So I often call Chappell, and of course I always call Brandi because she’s one of my best friends.

“Paul McCartney FaceTimes me to see how I’m doing. It’s really beautiful. The love I’ve received from him and from Pete Townshend and Mick Jagger and people like that has been amazing.”

Sir Elton, who headlined Glastonbury Festival in 2023 as part of his 330-date Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, added: “You just have to grin and bear it. It does get me down sometimes.”

Sir Elton previously told how a severe eye infection last year had left him with only limited vision in one eye.

His partner, filmmaker David Furnish, with whom he has two sons, also told Variety that experts had managed to make “some improvements in his left eye”.

Furnish told the magazine: “What AI is doing for medicine and science alone is astonishing. And there’s all kinds of interesting new theories and breakthroughs.”

Sir Elton announced on Tuesday that he will headline Rock In Rio, a festival in Rio De Janeiro, next September.