“I maintain that it’s addictive. It leads to other drugs. And when you’re stoned — and I’ve been stoned — you don’t think normally,” the legendary singer told Time in an interview in late December as part of their Icon of the Year coverage.
John’s past struggles seemingly led him to that conclusion. The EGOT winner battled years of drug abuse through much of the ’70s and ’80s, and has reportedly been sober since 1990. At first, he says he used cocaine to help him overcome his shyness, but eventually addiction took over.
“I’d smoke joints, I’d drink a bottle of Johnnie Walker and then I’d stay up for three days and then I’d go to sleep for a day and half … and then do the whole thing all over again,” John said in a 2010 TV interview with Piers Morgan. “When I look back, I shudder at the behavior and what I was doing to myself.”
Bernie Taupin, his longtime writing partner, described seeing John in the throes of his addiction as “absolutely horrible.”
“A lot of the work that we did in the times when he was at his worst wasn’t the best of both of us,” Taupin told Time. “I wasn’t able to creatively invest any time in writing material that related to him until he actually found himself.”
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Since getting clean, John has devoted much of his life to helping others do the same. According to Time, the “Rocket Man” crooner is rapper Eminem’s sponsor, and helped set up a stint in rehab for English singer Robbie Williams. He tried, unsuccessfully, to save his friend George Michael before he died in 2016 at the age of 53.
“It’s tough to tell someone that they’re being an a–hole, and it’s tough to hear,” John revealed of his feeble attempt to help the former Wham frontman get sober. “Eventually I made the choice to admit that I’m being an a–hole.”
Since 2012, numerous US states have legalized marijuana, and the federal government has made little attempt to stop them. Recreational weed is now legal in 24 states, with medical marijuana permitted in 14 others.
In May 2024, the Justice Department formally moved to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug following a recommendation from the Health and Human Services Department.
—Karu F. Daniels, New York Daily News (TNS)
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