Elton John Says He’s Lost His Sight
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For some time now, Elton John has had serious problems with his eyesight, and he now says that it’s gone completely, to the point where he can’t read or watch anything. He’s working on ways to repair it, but the eyesight issues are bad enough that he can’t record new music. Earlier this year, John posted on Instagram that he’s lost most of the vision in one eye because of a “severe eye infection”:
Over the summer, I’ve been dealing with a severe eye infection that has unfortunately left me with only limited vision in one eye. I am healing, but it’s an extremely slow process process and it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye.
A few days ago, Elton John spoke to ABC News’ Robin Roberts to promote the new Disney+ documentary Elton John: Never Too Late. That doc features John’s new Brandi Carlile duet “Never Too Late,” and there’s been talk of an entire album with Carlile. But when Roberts asked him about the status of a new album, John had this to say:
I don’t know. It’s been a while since I’ve done anything, and I just have to get off my backside. Unfortunately, I lost my eyesight in my right eye in July because I had an infection in the south of France, and it’s been four months now since I haven’t been able to see. And my left eye’s not the greatest. So there’s hope and encouragement, and it will be OK, but I’m kind of stuck at the moment. Because I can do something like this [interview], but going into the studio and recording, I don’t know because I can’t see a lyric, for a start. We’re taking initiative to try and get it better, but at the moment, that’s really what we’re concentrating on. It’s never fortunate for anything like this to happen, and it kind of floored me. I can’t see anything. I can’t read anything. I can’t watch anything.
On Sunday night, as People reports, John went to the London opening of his new musical version of The Devil Wears Prada, and he told the audience that he couldn’t actually see the stage during the show: “As some of you may know, I have had issues, and now I have lost my sight. I haven’t been able to see the performance, but I have enjoyed it… It’s hard for me to see it, but I love to hear it and it sounded good tonight.” John also said that his husband David Furnish has been his “rock” through the process. Furnish helped him down from the stage afterward.
