Elton John’s sad farewell
When Elton John’s mother Sheila Farebrother passed away at the age of 92 last week, she died knowing her son loved her with all his heart. But it very nearly wasn’t the case, as the two had only recently ended a bitter seven-year feud.
“So sad to say that my mother passed away this morning,” Elton, 70, tweeted on December 4. “I only saw her last Monday and I am in shock. Travel safe Mum.”
Elton and his mother fell out in 2008 when the hitmaker fired his personal assistant of 30 years Bob Halley and former manager and lover John Reid. Sheila was good friends with both men and refused to cut them out of her life when Elton demanded she do so.
“I told him: ‘I’m not about to do that and drop them. Bob is like a son to me... he lives nearby and keeps an eye on me,’ ” Sheila said in 2015. “[Elton] told me he hated me. He then banged the phone down. Imagine! To me, his mother!”
Sheila also took a cruel shot at his husband David Furnish, telling her son, “And you think more of that f***ing thing you married than your own mother!”
Elton finally made contact on Sheila’s 90th birthday when he sent her a big bouquet of orchids, with a note that read, “Wow, 90! Congratulations. Love Elton, David, Zachary and Elijah.” He also paid $53,000 for her to have double hip replacement surgery.
Elton confirmed in 2016 that he’d buried the hatchet with Sheila once and for all, saying, “We are now back in touch and have been so since my mother’s 90th birthday.”
Sources say that although Sheila never got to meet her two grandchildren – Elijah, four, and Zachary, six – Elton made it clear on Mother’s Day that he was thrilled they’d reconnected.
“Dear Mum, Happy Mother’s Day!” he shared on Instagram. “So happy we are back in touch.”
‘I only saw her last Monday and I am in shock. Travel safe Mum’