Elton John opens up on how having children 'changed everything' for him and husband David Furnish

11 October 2024, 12:27

He's reflecting on the moment that changed everything.

With the release of his recent documentary, Never Too Late, Elton John has been looking back at his life and illustrious career in music.

Having brought his touring career to a full stop last year, after a mesmerising and historic headline performance at Glastonbury Festival, the 'Rocket Man' hasn't exactly shied away from the limelight.

In fact, he's been more open than ever, delving into the frequent ups and downs he's experienced throughout his life, in full view of the public and his fans.

But one undoubted high in Elton's life was his and husband David Furnish's decision to start a family, and have children together.

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Like most families, there's no going back once you've brought new life into the world, as your aims and ambitious change to nurture them first and foremost instead.

And it was that joint decision from the couple that saw a natural shift in their own priorities, but for the better.

Life would never be the same again for the musician, who recently revealed in an interview with Attitude magazine how "having the children changed everything for the better" for him and David.

Watch the trailer for Elton John - Never Too Late

"When David first started managing me and we were talking about a five or six-year plan, he said, ‘Well, you always said you were going to die on the stage because we didn’t have anything else'," Elton revealed.

"We were two affluent gay people going around the world with a nice philanthropic side to us, but there was no other purpose other than that.

"Having the children changed everything for the better because now it’s all about them."

The married couple welcomed Zachary in 2010 via surrogate, and Elijah in 2013 via the same surrogate.

Lady Gaga is godmother to both, and David Beckham has offered aspiring footballer Zachary - who plays in the academy for Elton's beloved Watford FC - some expert tips on how to play the game.

"It’s all about their welfare and their future and it’s not about me and it’s not about him.

"We’re very comfortable in our relationship. We get better and better and better, but it’s the children that just really inspire us and it’s the most wonderful time of my life at the moment, and that’s pretty amazing."

Since coming out as gay to the world in 1992, Elton has been a figurehead for the gay community, and having a visible gay married couple bringing up children together has proved to be inspirational.

But their happy family unit wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the love that he and David still share after all these years.

The 'Tiny Dancer' singer also talked about the success of his relationship with Furnish in the interview with Attitude, saying:

"I think it is all about dialogue. I was never very good at communicating. I was terrified [of] confrontation. David’s very good at confrontation and telling me what he thinks, and we’ve done a lot of therapy.

"David got sober during our relationship," Elton goes on to say. "That was hard for him, and it was hard for me, but it was a necessary thing to do because it moved us on.

"As a rule, we don’t go to bed on an argument. If one of us is in a bad mood, we’ll say, ‘What’s wrong?’ We don’t go, ‘Oh, I don’t want to talk about it now – talk in the morning'.

"We never do that otherwise you can’t sleep all night, then you wake up in the morning, you think, ‘Oh God, what’s it all about?'"

Thankfully for Elton, he has the continued love and support from David as he keeps himself busy away from the stage.

This month, the musical for The Devil Wears Prada opens this month for which he wrote the music, and his candid documentary Never Too Late is set to stream on Disney+ from 13th December 2024.