The 7 Most Explosive Revelations In Elton John's New Memoir 'Me'
He left out none of the tea!
Getty Elton John is an OG — an OG in music, an OG in gossip, and an OG in pop culture. If you want to know the good tea about your favorite artists, look no further than the man formerly known as Reginald Dwight. Recently, John dropped his spicy memoir, "Me," in which he left NOTHING out. But what were the top 7 explosive revelations from Elton John's memoir?
Whenever beloved public figures release memoirs, we as fans know that we are in for a wild ride, especially if their past included allegations of drug use, crazy sex-fueled parties and strange habits. Unfortunately for Elton, he dealt with all three, and more. Fortunately for the rest of us, we get to read about it from the safety and comfort of our own homes. There's an old adage: if you can remember the wild life, you probably weren't there, which explains why a lot of these celebrity memoirs either have ghostwriters or co-writers.
Still, Elton John's memoir is chock-full of explosive revelations, each more shocking than the last. Let's take a look at the top 7 explosive revelations from Elton John's memoir.
1. He had a frightening health scare recently.
One of Elton John's favorite topics is, of course, Elton John, and we have no choice but to stan a queen for being so fierce. That's why, according to People, he spilled a lot of tea on himself first and foremost. Shockingly, he had a health scare back in 2017 — and when he went in for surgery to deal with prostate cancer, he contracted such a bad infection post-op that he was "24 hours from death." Fortunately for all of us, Elton pulled through and lived to tell the tale.
2. Freddie Mercury saved his life.
Thanks to the Oscar-winning film Bohemian Rhapsody, a whole new generation of music fans got as close as they will ever get to experience the greatness that was Freddie Mercury, the late co-founder and lead singer of Queen. And according to TooFab, Freddie Mercury earned even more awesome-sauce points in Me when Elton John revealed that Mercury intervened in John's addiction. The "Rocket Man" singer credits the "We Will Rock You" singer with staging an intervention that, ultimately, helped in getting him clean. (Elton John also recently revealed that he's been sober for more than 20 years. Right on, Elton!)
3. Eminem gave him sex toys.
Well, go' head Slim Shady. According to XXL Magazine, Eminem and Elton John — who, somehow, managed to form a friendship that spanned generations — became friends somewhere along the line. Elton John even performed with Eminem at the MTV Video Music Awards! But the most shocking revelation about Eminem comes courtesy of a special gift the rapper gave the singer when he got married to longtime love David Furnish: matching bejeweled cock rings, sitting in a "beautiful box on satin cushions." Well now! For what it's worth, Elton claims that the gifts remain unused.
4. Queen Elizabeth is high-key gangsta, and Prince Andrew is...strange.
Elton John has had an interesting love-hate relationship with Buckingham Palace, in part because of his relationship with Princess Diana. But according to Business Insider, during a period of time in which he was on good terms with the Windsors (and, it seems, he still enjoys their company today), he went to Prince Andrew's 50th birthday party and found the whole get-together a bit strange. (Of course, we know that thanks to the Jeffrey Epstein connection, Prince Andrew is problematic, at best.) But Elton said he found the get-together to celebrate the prince's birthday a bit weird because everyone was so quiet "so as not to offend the Queen." They really had nothing to worry about, though, because later in the autobiography, Elton revealed that he once saw the Queen pimp-slap her nephew in front of him, then went about her business as though nothing happened.
5. He adored Michael Jackson when he was younger, but found him "disturbing" in his later years.
This is a bit distressing, and sad, at the same time: according to People, who published an excerpt from Me, Elton John thought Michael Jackson was a delightful teenager, but as he got older, the mental illness seemed to get the better of him. "I'd known Michael since he was 13 or 14... He was just the most adorable kid you could imagine. But at some point in the intervening years, he started sequestering himself away from the world, and away from reality the way Elvis Presley did. God knows what was going on in his head, and God knows what prescription drugs he was being pumped full of, but every time I saw him in his later years I came away thinking the poor guy had totally his marbles. I don't mean that in the light-hearted way. He was genuinely mentally ill, a disturbing person to be around," he wrote.
6. His "friendly beef" with Rod Stewart reached its peak when he shot down a promotional blimp featuring the Scottish singer.
Elton John and Rod Stewart love each other. Madly. Emphasis on madly. Their "friendly beef" started back in the 1970s when the two singers hit it off, and Elton began calling Rod "Phyllis" while Stewart called him "Sharon." One year, according to Ultimate Classic Rock, Rod Stewart was playing at Earls Court in the UK, and the promoters advertised Stewart's performance by putting his face on a blimp. Elton saw the blimp from his hotel room and realized he had a golden opportunity to stick it to his friend. Elton called up his manager and had the blimp shot down. When the blimp landed, it landed on a double decker bus (fortunately, no one was hurt) and disappeared. Rod, however, was none too pleased with Elton and called him up screaming about it. "Where's my fucking balloon gone? It was you, wasn't it? You cow! You bitch!" he said. (It took a whole year, but Rod finally got back at Elton when he had Elton's promotional banner cut down before Elton could even see it.)
7. Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone got into it over Princess Diana.
Well then. According to The Guardian, Elton John was at a party one night and witnessed Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone getting ready to come to blows. When other folks at the party split them up, he got to the root cause of the problem: one Princess Diana. Apparently, both actors were on the make, and were trying to put the moves on the beautiful royal, and didn't seem to care if they came up missing.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. For more information about Bernadette Giacomazzo, click here.