It’s so sad Elton’s mum never met his children
Singer’s ex-manager lifts lid on family rift that never healed
I knew that f***er wasn’t going to show up so I got this one ELTON’S MUM ON HIRING A LOOKALIKE FOR HER 90TH
SIR Elton John’s late mother never met his children due to a family rift, his old manager John Reid claims.
The singer, 71, and Sheila Farebrother fell out after she told of refusing to cut ties with pals Bob Halley and John, who Sir Elton had fired from his entourage.
The pair are said to have reconciled for her 90th birthday but John said Sheila still did not see her grandchildren.
Sir Elton has sons Zachary, eight, and Elijah, six, with husband David Furnish.
John told Nina Myskow on her podcast Too Late to Die Young: “The children were a big surprise to me. I wish him nothing but the best. The sad thing was his mother never met them.” John knew Sheila for almost 50 years, remaining in touch even after her falling-out with Sir Elton in 2008.
She died aged 92 in December 2017. John, 69, was at her 90th birthday party, when she infamously hired a lookalike of her son as entertainment.
He said: “Until she died, we were close. I went to her 90th party. She never told
me she’d hired a lookalike. I was sitting next to her and this guy walked in, we all thought it was Elton. “It was all wrong. We were like, ‘What is this?’ She said, ‘I knew he wasn’t going to come, so I thought I’d get a substitute’. “Well, what she actually said was, ‘I knew that f***er wasn’t going to show up, so I got this one’.” Sir Elton fired John, his long-time manager, in the late 90s after stories were leaked from his office. He said: “He hasn’t spoken to me since. I’ve seen him twice in 20 years. “He very sheepishly avoided me. Once he makes up his mind you’re history, you’re history.” John features in Freddie Mercury film Bohemian Rhapsody, played by Aidan Gillen.
The Bodyguard actor Richard Madden stars as him in forthcoming Elton biopic Rocketman. He joked: “Joan Collins said to me, ‘You lucked out on that casting’.”
Of working in music in the 70s and 80s, he added: “Excess was the order of the day. People like Freddie and Elton saw the absurdity in the excess, money, sex; there was nothing denied them.”
Sir Elton was approached for a comment but none was forthcoming. ●Full interview in Nina Myskow’s Too Late to Die Young podcast at itunes. apple.com/gb/podcast/too-late-to-dieyoung/id1449718772?mt=2.