Elton John Celebrates 30 Years Of Sobriety With Powerful Twitter Post

Sir Elton John has marked his 30th ‘Sobriety Birthday’ with a powerful social media post. 

The Tiny Dancer musician took to Twitter today, July 30, to mark three decades since getting sober, coming after years of drugs and alcohol as his career entered the stratosphere.

Describing it as the ‘most magical day’, he shared a picture of gifts he’d received, writing: ‘So many lovely cards, flowers and chips from my sons, David [Furnish], friends in the Program, staff at the office and in our homes. I’m truly a blessed man.’

In a subsequent tweet, the 73-year-old also wrote: ‘If I hadn’t finally taken the big step of asking for help 30 years ago, I’d be dead. Thank-you from the bottom of my heart to all the people who have inspired and supported me along the way.’

John’s life was the subject of a biopic, Rocketman, last year, starring Kingsman’s Taron Egerton as the I’m Still Standing singer-songwriter. Unlike Bohemian Rhapsody, which blanketed Freddie Mercury with sanitised storytelling, Dexter Fletcher’s film is a remarkably candid affair, especially considering John’s involvement in its production.

John noted in the article that he didn’t have much interest in looking back on his career until later in life, when he had his first children, Zachary and Elijah. ‘I became less conscious about keeping it all to myself. I liked the idea of them having a film and an autobiography, where I was honest,’ he wrote.

Discussing his struggles with drugs and alcohol, he added that ‘it’s a miracle I didn’t go off the rails before I did. It took three or four years – and my discovery of cocaine – before things started getting out of hand, maybe because I was working so hard that I didn’t have too much time to think about it’.

Although, when watching the film, he didn’t find those parts painful. ‘They’re truthful and, unlike my childhood, it was my own fault… in fact, more than a few people tried to warn me I was out of control. It took a fairly Herculean effort to get yourself noticed for taking too much cocaine in the music industry of 1970s LA, but I was clearly prepared to put the hours in,’ John wrote.

Rocketman is available to purchase on DVD, Blu-Ray and 4K UHD, as well as on-demand on Amazon Prime and iTunes.

If you want to discuss any issues relating to alcohol in confidence, contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110, 9am–8pm weekdays and 11am–4pm weekends for advice and support.