Sir Elton John has hailed his husband David Furnish as his "rock" after he “lost his eyesight”.
The 77-year-old music legend lost the vision in his right eye due to an infection and hasn't been able to "see" his new musical 'The Devil Wears Prada' properly, but said the cast "sounded great" as he attended a charity gala event put on by the stage adaptation of the 2006 flick in aid of the Elton John AIDS Foundation at London's Dominion Theatre on Sunday (01.12.24).
Wearing oversized, red-tinted spectacles, he is quoted by various outlets as saying: "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."
Praising his spouse, he added: "To my husband who’s been my rock because I haven’t been able to come to many of the previews... it’s hard for me to see it but I love to hear it and it sounded good tonight OK. Thank you for coming!"
The 'Tiny Dancer' hitmaker was then assisted off the stage by his other half.
Elton revealed in September he had spent the summer battling an infection and while he has "hope" he will be able to see properly again eventually, he's currently unable to work on new music because of the limitations with his vision.
He told 'Good Morning America': "It’s been a while since I’ve done anything. I just have to get off my backside
“I unfortunately lost my eyesight in my right eye in July because I had an infection in the South of France.
“It’s been four months now since I haven’t been able to see. My left eye is not the greatest.
“There’s hope and encouragement that it will be okay, but I’m kind of stuck in the moment, because I can do something like this, but going into the studio and recording, I don’t know. Because I can’t see a lyric for start.”
Elton - who has sons Zachary, 13, and 11-year-old Elijah with his 62-year-old spouse - admitted he has been "floored" by the situation.
He said: "We're taking initiative to try and get it better. But at the moment, that's really what I'm concentrating on. It's never fortunate for anything like this to happen.
"It kinda floored me, and I can't see anything. I can't read anything, I can't watch anything."
Despite his health woes, the 'I'm Still Standing' hitmaker - who is the subject of an upcoming Disney+ documentary, 'Elton John: Never Too Late' - still feels "lucky".
He said: "I'm so lucky. I'm the luckiest man in the world.
"I'm so proud of the documentary, I'm proud of my sons, I'm proud of my attitude toward myself and what's going on. I'm just very lucky and very grateful.
"I am an iron man, because I've been through so much and come out the other side."
Elton shared on Instagram in September: "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 and it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye.
"I am so grateful for the excellent team of doctors and nurses and my family, who have taken such good care of me over the last several weeks. I have been quietly spending the summer recuperating at home, and am feeling positive about the progress I have made in my healing and recovery thus far."
