Elton John says he ‘wasted a big part’ of his life on drugs

Sir Elton John has spoken candidly about his past drug use, saying he “wasted a big part” of his life.

The singer, speaking to the Today show for a forthcoming broadcast, said he was “consumed by cocaine, booze and who knows what else” earlier in his career.

Sir Elton said: “I wasted such a big part of my life, when this epidemic was beginning to happen in the early 1980s. And I was a drug addict and self-absorbed.

“You know, I was having people die right, left and centre around me, friends. And yet, I didn’t stop the life that I had, which is the terrible thing about addiction. It’s that bad of a disease.”

He added: “I was consumed by cocaine, booze, and who knows what else. I apparently never got the memo that the Me generation had ended.”

Sir Elton also said he was lucky that he wasn’t diagnosed as HIV-positive.

He said: “You know what? When you take a drug and you take a drink and you mix those two together, you think you’re invincible. I came out of this HIV-negative. I was the luckiest man in the world.”

The star, who is married to David Furnish, also spoke about their son, 18-month-old Zachary,

He said he knew his son would one day question having two fathers.

He said: “When he’s four and he starts going to preschool kids will say,’You don’t have a mummy.’ And we know that. We talked about this before we had Zachary. And we’re gonna say, ‘Well, listen, there’s gonna be consequences involved in having a child when you’re two gay parents.

“It’s going to be heartbreaking for him to grow up and realize he hasn’t got a mummy. But he’s so happy. I’ve never seen a more contented child. And you have never seen two more contented people as David and I.”