The 78-year-old musician – who has sons Zachary, 14, and Elijah, 12, with husband David Furnish – contracted a severe eye infection last July which left him blind in his right eye, with “limited vision” in his left and he revealed how it has severely impacted his life.
Speaking to a reporter from The Times newspaper, Elton said: “I can see you, but I can’t see TV, I can’t read. I can’t see my boys playing rugby and soccer, and it has been a very stressful time because I’m used to soaking it all up.
“‘It’s distressing. You get emotional, but you have to get used to it because I’m lucky to have the life I have.
“I still have my wonderful family, and I can still see something out of here [left eye] So you say to yourself, just get on with it.”
Despite his battle, Elton returned to performing with a stunning appearance on Saturday Night Live, playing the piano and singing with Brandi Carlile as she performed, “Who Believes in Angels?”
The pair took to the stage twice during the show to promote songs from their collaborative album, ‘Who Believes In Angels?’ belting out their songs with energy and full, vibrant tone.
Speaking previously about his battle with blindness, Elton told The Guardian newspaper: “I’m an optimist permanently, I’ve got bad eyesight at the moment.
“There have been days I’ve been miserable, but then I think about how lucky I am, I’ve got a new respect for sight-impaired people, but I’ve got a great life and hopefully my sight will improve.
“I’ve beaten addiction, health issues and can pick myself up, dust myself off.”
Meanwhile, Elton – who has battled addiction in the past – recently admitted that if he could, he would tell his younger self to “never take drugs”.
During an interview on Smooth Radio with presenter Kate Garraway, he said: “Enjoy what you do, which I’d done. Never take drugs.
“I mean, I took drugs. It took me down, and then when I recovered, I had to go through that journey to become the person I am. But I wouldn’t have wanted to go through all that, but it did land me up where I am now.
“I just said, you know, appreciate, and admit you’re so really lucky to be able to have music in your life. Music has been in my entire life. It’s been with me when I’ve been up, been down, depressed, but I still went out there and made music, I recorded, I toured, and it saved me. It nearly destroyed me, but it saved me.”
