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He is one of the most successful pop singers, with his memorable tunes regularly topping the charts.<\/p>\n
Elton John first stormed onto the music scene back in 1969 when he released his number one hit single Your Song.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take long before the 77-year-old became an international sensation with such legendary hits including Tiny Dancer, I\u2019m Still Standing, and Don\u2019t Go Breaking My Heart.<\/p>\n
Throughout his fifty-year career, the dad-of-two has sold over 300million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time.<\/p>\n
Over the years, he has received an Emmy award, five Grammys, two Oscar Academy Awards, and a Tony Award, completing the EGOT among many more.<\/p>\n
But it hasn\u2019t always been plain sailing for the musician, who has struggled with his health over the course of his life. Ahead of the launch of the star\u2019s annual AIDs foundation gala, let\u2019s take a look inside the singer\u2019s health battle.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Eating disorder \u00a0<\/h3>\n
Elton has been open about his previous issues with bulimia, a condition he had in common with his close friend, the late Princess Diana.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Larry King, the singer was asked whether he knew about the late royal\u2019s battle with the illness. He replied: \u201cYes, I did. We were both bulimic.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2019, Elton explained further about his struggles with the condition to his unofficial biographer. He told Philip Norman: \u201cI was bulimic for six years. It was all through being paranoid about my weight but not able to stop eating.<\/p>\n
“So, in the end, I\u2019d gorge, then make myself sick. For breakfast I\u2019d have a fry-up, followed by 20 pots of cockles and then a tub of ice cream, so I\u2019d throw it all up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never stood still. I was always rushing, always thinking about the next thing. If I was eating a curry, I couldn\u2019t wait to throw it up so that I could have the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Drug addiction \u00a0<\/h3>\n
Although the pop legend is completely sober, the star has been open about his issues with addiction throughout the early years of his career.<\/p>\n
In 2012, he confessed to NPR: \u201cI still dream, twice a week at least, that I\u2019ve taken cocaine and I have it up my nose. And it\u2019s very vivid and it\u2019s very upsetting, but at least it\u2019s a wake-up call.\u201d<\/p>\n
His addictions ended up fuelling his struggles with bulimia as he explained to Piers Morgan in a 2010 interview.<\/p>\n
John told the journalist: \u201cThis is how bleak it was: I\u2019d stay up, I\u2019d smoke joints, I\u2019d drink a bottle of Johnnie Walker and then I\u2019d stay up for three days and then I\u2019d go to sleep for a day and a half, get up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd because I was so hungry, because I hadn\u2019t eaten anything, I\u2019d binge and have like three bacon sandwiches, a pot of ice cream and then I\u2019d throw it up, because I became bulimic and then go and do the whole thing all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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He told the broadcaster that he even came \u201cvery close\u201d to death due to his drink and drug addictions. The doting dad went on: \u201cI mean, I would have an epileptic seizure and turn blue, and people would find me on the floor and put me to bed, and then 40 minutes later I\u2019d be snorting another line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking in 2017, the chart-topper said that meeting Ryan White, a teenager who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion, helped him to kick his addictions. During a talk at Harvard University, the star explained: \u201cI had the luck to meet Ryan White and his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to help them, but they ended up helping me much more, Ryan was the spark that helped me to recover from my addictions and start the AIDs Foundation. Within six months [of White\u2019s death] I became sober, and clean, and have been for 27 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\u2018Dangerous\u2019 appendicitis \u00a0<\/h3>\n
In 2013, the singer cancelled a performance in Hyde Park after he fell terribly ill. It turned out that Elton required immediately surgery due to appendicitis.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Telegraph at the time, he explained: \u201cI knew I was sick but I didn\u2019t know I had such a dangerous thing inside of me until I had a scan, which was after nine shows, 34 flights and a summer ball. I could have easily died.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a wake-up call. I\u2019m 55 not 36 anymore. I want to write another musical for Broadway and I want to spend more time with my children.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have to tour. I don\u2019t need the money. I just love playing. When I had the operation, I said, \u2018This has got to stop, this is crazy, why am I doing this?\u2019<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m a great believer in signs coming to you in life to tell you something. This appendix thing, it\u2019s so lucky I didn\u2019t die.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Bacterial infection \u00a0<\/h3>\n
Four years later, Elton was forced to cancel dates on his US tour and spend two days in intensive care after the musician contracted a bacterial infection.<\/p>\n
His management said at the time that the infection was \u201crare and potentially deadly\u201d. Elton later added: \u201cI am so fortunate to have the most incredible and loyal friends and apologise for disappointing them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am extremely grateful to the medical team for their excellence in looking after me so well.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Bone necklace \u00a0<\/h3>\n
Over the years, Elton has undergone countless surgeries throughout his life, including knee operations and hip operations.<\/p>\n
At the 2024 premiere of his biopic Never Too Late, the musician turned heads when he posed up a storm wearing his kneecap as a necklace. In an interview on the red carpet, he joked: \u201cI don\u2019t have tonsils, adenoids or an appendix.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have a prostate. I don\u2019t have a right hip or a left knee or a right knee. In fact, the only thing left to me is my left hip.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking with The Sun, Elton\u2019s husband David Furnish reassured fans: \u201cHe\u2019s doing amazing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s having another knee done in a couple of weeks and by the time the summer rolls around, he\u2019ll have two brand new spanking knees.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Limited vision \u00a0<\/h3>\n
In September, Elton said that he had been left with \u201climited eyesight\u201d after contracting a \u201csevere eye infection.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taking to Instagram, he wrote: \u201cOver the summer, I\u2019ve been dealing with a severe eye infection that has unfortunately left me with only limited vision in one eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am healing, but it\u2019s an extremely slow process and it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye.\u201d He went on: \u201cI am so grateful for the excellent team of doctors and nurses and my family, who have taken such good care of me over the last several weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been quietly spending the summer recuperating at home and am feeling positive about the progress I have made in my healing and recovery so far.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
In November, during an interview with Good Morning America, Elton admitted it had been \u201ca while since I\u2019ve done anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told host Robin Roberts: \u201cI can do something like this [interview] but going into the studio and recording, I don\u2019t know, because I can\u2019t see a lyric for a start.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s never fortunate for anything like this to happen, and it kind of floored me and I can\u2019t see anything, I can\u2019t read anything, I can\u2019t watch anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Elton John is one of the most successful British pop singers (Image: Getty Images) He is one of the most successful pop singers, with his memorable tunes regularly topping the charts. Elton John first stormed onto the music scene back in 1969 when he released his number one hit single Your Song. It didn\u2019t take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":258670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment"],"yoast_head":"\n