Elton John: “When my kids were born, I didn’t want them to have any fear – they’re not interested in being in the limelight”

Elton John has opened up about his children’s relationship with his fame, saying they are “not interested in being in the limelight”.

The music legend and his husband David Furnish have two sons, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, 13, and Elijah Joseph Daniel Furnish-John, 11, both born via surrogacy.

In a new interview with Kate Thornton on Greatest Hits Radio on Friday (November 15), Elton, 77, gave an insight into his family life, stating that the reason he has decided to stop playing live is so that he can “spend the rest of my life with my boys”.

Explaining how his parenting style is different from that of his own parents, he added: “When the kids were born I didn’t want them to have any fear. I grew up in the 1950s and everything was ‘children should be seen and not heard.’ I was treading on eggshells everywhere and I didn’t ever want my children to feel like that.

“They’re not interested in being in the limelight,” he added. “In fact Zachary, our eldest, didn’t really want to be filmed at all, he doesn’t like it, but we explained the situation to him and he agreed to be filmed at the Dodgers Stadium.”

John was referring to the filming of Never Too Late, the new Disney+ documentary that followed him as he prepared for his final North American stadium show at the Los Angeles stadium in November 2022.

“At the end of the day what matters most? My career and my success or my family and I’ve got it in perspective now – my family matters most,” John said. “I’m lucky enough to have had the career I’ve had and still have but now it’s being able to enjoy that part of my life and really focus on the important things.”

The film has a limited theatrical release in the UK and US today (November 15), before its premiere on Disney+ on December 13.

The doc “pulls back the curtain” on Elton’s life, featuring “never-before-seen concert footage of him over the past 50 years, as well as hand-written journals and present-day footage of him and his family.” It received its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Earlier today, a song of the same name that was written specifically for the film was released, a duet between John and Brandi Carlile.

While that is likely to be a standalone song, it appears that John is not done releasing new music just yet. In May, his friend and co-writer Bernie Taupin revealed that John’s 32nd studio album is “all done and recorded”.