Posted on 11/27/2005 3:22:56 AM PST by ejdrapes
Welcome to planet Elton. We are half a dozen blocks from Central Park in New York. An entire floor of the rococo hotel that doubles as the John- Furnish Manhattan pied-à-terre when they’re in town has been commandeered for business.
Arthur, their cocker spaniel, is at the beauty parlour (he’s in the park four times a day so he gets quite mucky, offers Elton). Later they’re off shopping with their New York buddy Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters, and — how can you not love this incidental detail? — his mum. There is an inevitably fabulous, almost regal flavour to the mis en scène — a suite posher than the entire Parker Bowles family munching on pheasants — as we sit down to talk about their forthcoming marriage. Elton John met David Furnish, then a young advertising executive, in 1993 when gay politicians were still getting married to protect their seats and George Michael and Alan Bennett were considered heterosexual if a little “funny”. Twelve years on it is considered weirder to be in the closet than “It’ll be a brilliant end to a brilliant year for us,” says Elton. As this is new territory for all of us, what will the wedding entail? Elton: The ceremony will be very private: a small family affair, David’s parents, my parents and the two of us. They’ll be our witnesses. I’ll tell you something, though, we had no shortage of offers for bridesmaids. We could’ve had the campest group of bridesmaids ever.
Do you worry about the effect on your career in America? Have you met George Bush? Do you think this is a benchmark in British gay rights? Will you do OK! or Hello! for the wedding? When did your relationship start to feel permanent? Are you part of that über-celebrity spouse club, David? Do you have coffee mornings with Trudie Styler and Sharon Osbourne? What do you think gay men will take out of the idea of marriage? What did your mum and dad say when you first told them your boyfriend was Elton John? Tell me to mind my own business here if you like, but has the age gap ever presented a problem? Do you want kids? What were your first few dates like? Elton: I’ll be honest, though, the Michael Jackson one was weird for me, too. It’s not just David who has to get used to things. Michael was in a very medicated state at the time and it was the first time he’d eaten with people — like sat down at a dinner table — in something like 10 years. He told us that over dinner. It was totally bizarre. How was David received at your football club? Do you think they’ll be some dissenting voices about your wedding? Who’s most likely to turn into the gay Elizabeth Taylor?
The Sunday Times
November 27, 2005
Interview: Paul Flynn meets Elton John and David Furnish
Now we are (nearly) married
out of it and in December, when civil partnerships become legal, Furnish, 43, and John, 58, will tie the knot.
Are we talking Liz Hurley, Victoria Beckham and Lulu?
Elton: Ahem! We are basically talking everybody.
David: Sharon Osbourne.
Elton: Anastacia.
David: Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek! I kid you not. At the Cannes film festival they both stopped me and asked if they could be bridesmaids.
Elton: No. Not at all. God, my career’s been through it all over there. My fans are extremely loyal.
David: Yes, we went to the White House when Elton got the Kennedy Center award.
Elton: Which I got a lot of flak for.
David: It was a surreal moment. I had very mixed feelings about it. We agonised about whether to go or not. It’s kind of an American equivalent of a knighthood.
Elton: It doesn’t matter who’s in power, the president has nothing to do with choosing it. A lot of people said I shouldn’t go. But America has given me everything.
David: There was hospitality backstage before the show and Bush, Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Cheney, Colin Powell were all there. But they seated us with the other lefties.
Elton: Warren Beatty, basically.
David: Bush came over and said: “I think what you guys are doing for Aids is amazing. Your testimony in Congress was fantastic. It’s making a huge difference.” Under those circumstances it’s difficult, as a human being, not to have your head turned.
Elton: We were polite. Ultimately I’m a great one for building bridges rather than higher walls.
Elton: We’re very lucky to live in Britain. I cannot think of a more tolerant place to live.
David: We were both invited to Charles and Camilla’s wedding. Elton couldn’t go and so they said, of course, David is just as welcome and must come on his own if he wants to. We met the Queen as a couple and she was terribly charming.
Elton: No. Our relationship isn’t up for grabs. We had an offer from a TV channel in America for $10m for rights to the wedding. It was money for the Aids Foundation, obviously, so . . .
David: So we thought about it long and hard. But once you make that decision to commercialise your life, whether it’s for charity or not, you cross a line.
Elton: And you can never go back from that. Madonna got it right when she was married. Nobody has seen one photograph of that day.
Elton: From the word go. And it hasn’t changed. He was the first person I’d dated who had a great job, had his own place, his own career, and I was determined not to wreck it.
David: I won’t lie, we are friends. We do get on. But Sharon and Trudie are so much more than just spouses, they’re great mothers, wives, businesswomen.
Elton: It’s only our point of view, but I don’t see it as the
same as the heterosexual model. It can’t be.
David: The dynamic of two men in a relationship is different to that of a man and a woman.
Elton: There aren’t families to plan or schools to choose. It is just two people you have to take care of. Which is hard sometimes.
David: We all know of straight friends who’ve had kids to try and fix their marriage or who have lost their marriage to their kids. Kids are not glue. But that lack of something biological holding you together really shifts the dynamic. If we weren’t happy or right for one another, then we could leave and there would only be repercussions for us. In a way it tests whether the love and commitment is genuine.
David: Oh, they got “I’m gay and I’m living with Elton John” in the same sentence. I was bawling my eyes out. And I looked over through the tears and they were sitting with a smile on their faces and my mother said: “Look, it’s fine, we can be a family again.” It was only then that I realised maybe I was the one putting the barrier between us.
Elton: The only time we started talking about the difference in our ages was when we talked about adopting a child. I said: “Listen, David, I am just too old for this.” I didn’t want to be seventysomething with a teenage child and all the worry that entails. I’m too selfish. I’m too set in my ways. But it’s a shame, because David would have been a fantastic dad.
David: Oh, I think you would’ve been, too.
Elton: Maybe. If I was 20 years younger we probably would’ve done it.
David: It would be so difficult for a child as well.
Elton: And, frankly, I refuse to breast feed [laughs].
Elton: No. I’ll take the perks of being gay where I can get them and that’s one of them for me: gay men are the only group of people who aren’t looked down upon if they don’t have kids.
David: The first one was at Elton’s London home, just the two of us.
Elton: We had a Chinese takeaway from Mr Chow [in Knightsbridge]. One of the funniest stories from those early days was after we’d known each other for a little while, I invited him to come to Woodside to meet my mum. Meeting anyone’s parents is an issue and believe me, my mum had seen an absolute parade of them.
David: And every time Elton had been, “But mum, honestly, this one really is the one”.
Elton: So my mum’s coming over and David’s coming over and she’s a little cynical anyway and then in the morning I get a phone call from my therapist. Michael Jackson was staying at my manager’s house and my therapist said: “Oh, I’m coming over with Michael Jackson, is that okay?” So on top of meeting my mum, David’s got Michael Jackson at the dinner table as well.
David: I got there and sat down and was, like, what is this man doing to me? It was way too much.
Elton: He was freaking out. It was the most surreal moment.
David: Actually it was a great day. Elton’s mum and dad got there about 45 minutes before Michael and we had a chance to have a good chinwag before he arrived. I liked them straight away. I loved her candour.It was slightly bonkers when Michael came in, though. At that point the only celebrity I’d met was Elton, but his mum was so used to it she said: “Hello then, love, how are you? What you doing over here, then?” And he was like Bambi in the forest, he was so out of it he couldn’t really have a conversation with anybody. It was just incredible to watch.
Elton: Oh, there were jokes. But there’s always jokes from the terraces about me. And you know what? Some of them are very funny. They’re clever and bawdy and British. I’ll tell you something, and not enough is made of this, I was with Watford football club from the fifth to the first division and the board always stood by me. If you wave back after they’ve sung “Elton, Elton, give us a wave, you old poof” then they love it. That’s essentially what I love about Britain, in a nutshell.
Elton: Of course there will. I’m counting down for the Boy George tirade. He absolutely loves to have a pop at me.
David: The dissenting voices are part of the reason we are doing this thing. The extremism in America is getting more and more polarised. The Pope is very openly anti-gay.
Elton: Of course there are a lot of gay Liz Taylors out there, but they wouldn’t bother with the marriage thing, would they? Christ, I was one! F*** it, I was Liz Taylor, Mickey Rooney and Zsa Zsa together. But I know now. I know this one’s for ever.
A better way to protect their, ahem, "seats" would be to keep their pants on.
SHUT UP AND SING!
Them too.
And them.
I tried to read the whole article before becoming nauseous... REALLY I did.....
I sure hope they use "protection" on their wedding night. I would hate to see the "bride" get pregnant on the first night.
I'll never understand. How does a man, especially one who could have almost any woman, look at another man and say, "Hmmm. I wanna get me some of that."?
I'd settle for just the "shut up" part.
Poor perverts. I really feel sorry for them.
"David: The dynamic of two men in a relationship is different to that of a man and a woman."
No sh*t, Sherlock!
See my tagline.
I'm sure I'd get "flamed" by the "you're born that way" crowd but I think there is something to be said for men with homosexual inclinations and bad childhood relationships with their fathers. It may not be the whole story, but I think it's an influence.
These two won't be laughing when they die.
They talk about kids being used as glue when they're not glue in a marriage but that it's more difficult if there are not kids to stay together and worth things out.
I've often wondered about homosexual men. I haven't talked with any about things like that. I have talked with a number of lesbians, and they all were sexually abused as very young children (while claiming they were born as lesbians).
Since everything he did after "Madman Across the Water" sucked, I'd prefer he just shut up.
I hear they squealed with joy!
Ick
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