John told how he had met Jackson when the latter was still a young boy, before going on to describe how the years changed the Thriller singer in all manner of ways, and none of them positive.
“I’d known Michael since he was 13 or 14,” Elton wrote. “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.”
Elton went on to affirm his belief that Jackson’s transformation may have largely been down to his prolonged use of prescription drugs.
“God knows what was going on in his head,” Elton continued, “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 that the poor guy had totally lost his marbles.”
The Your Song artist added: “I don’t mean that in a lighthearted way. He was genuinely mentally ill, a disturbing person to be around.”
Jackson infamously became the center of a mass media storm after he was accused of sexual abuse against minors – a dark cloud that has never really been disassociated with his name, even now, many years after his passing.
As for those rumors, John said simply: “For whatever reason, he couldn’t seem to cope with adult company at all.”
John’s health
Of late, the 75-year-old John has been troubled with a number of health issues.
He was forced to postpone and reschedule many of the dates on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour until 2023 in a bid to aid his recovery.
Earlier this week, reports emerged suggesting that Elton had declined an offer to perform at King Charles’s coronation concert. He famously performed Candle in the Wind at Princess Diana’s funeral, but will not be appearing at the ceremony to officially confirm her ex-husband’s position as the new monarch of England.
