Family ‘most important’ to Elton John’s retirement

Elton John’s husband David Furnish has opened up about what is “most important” to the pop superstar as he officially retires from live performing.

Speaking exclusively to PinkNews on the red carpet at the premiere of the new documentary at the BFI London Film Festival Elton John: Never too late on Thursday (Oct. 10), Furnish said that time at home with her family has “satisfied (her husband’s) soul.”

He went on to say, “Elton has said, ‘I don’t want my tombstone to say I’ve sold millions of records.’ I would like to say that I was a great father and a loving husband.” So I think the most important thing for Elton is family at this stage in his life.

“It’s not that he doesn’t care about music, he cares passionately. But what (has) satisfied his soul, I think, and brought him real comfort at this stage of his life, is what we have at home.”

Elton has previously revealed that he has retired from touring for good because he wants to spend more time with David, whom he married in 2014, and their two sons – Zachary, who will be 14 on Christmas Day, and Elijah, who will be 12 in January. .

Furnish directed the new documentary, along with Emmy-winning RJ Cutler Elton John Live: Goodbye from Dodger Stadium.

The film explores Elton’s rise to fame and struggle to cope, and sees him open up about his battle with addiction and mental health, as well as homophobia when came out as bisexual in 1976, then gay in 1992. affected his career.

It uses stock footage, including extracts from the star’s diaries.

Furnish said: “For me, when we got Elton’s handwritten diaries I had completely forgotten, the amount of work he put in and the passion with which he did it… when you read something like: in the morning, he had breakfast, he wrote ‘Rocket Man’, he wrote two other songs, he recorded the vocals’, all in one day – the crazy passion and creativity that was coming out of him at that moment… to see in his own handwriting and written so naively, he is really on this great and extraordinary journey, and he is not lost.

“He’s writing down his ideas in a way that’s like that every day. It’s really beautiful.”

Furnish’s documentary ends in 2022, when Elton played his final US tour at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Elton John: Never too late premieres on Disney+ on December 13.

The BFI London Film Festival runs across London until 20 October.

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