Elton John Opens Up About His Infamous Temper: 'My Fuse Is Very Short'

Elton John Opens Up About His Infamous Temper: 'My Fuse Is Very Short' https://ift.tt/U6G3rY7

“I don’t like having that temperament, but it’s all usually done and dusted within five or 10 minutes," said the "Rocket Man" singer

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Elton John

Elton John knows he has a short temper — and he's grateful to have husband David Furnish by his side through it all.

In a cover story interview with TIME on Wednesday, Dec. 11, the legendary singer — who was named their Icon of the Year — opens up about his infamous temper.

“David can tell you that my fuse is very short, and the worst thing about my temper is that David is very rational about things, and he’ll explain,” John, 77, told the outlet. "And I'll get even madder about it."

Related: Elton John Was ‘Very Shut Down in Terms of Accepting Love’ When He Met Husband David Furnish

Meanwhile, Furnish, 62, who met John in 1993, said John was "very, very shut down in terms of accepting love" when he first met him.

“No one had ever asked him to do personal things like go for a walk together, those kind of joyful things," said Furnish.

While John has become calmer over the years — he'll still get agitated from time to time.

“I will flare up if I’m tired, if I’m exhausted, if I’m overwhelmed,” said the "Your Song" singer. “I don’t like having that temperament, but it’s all usually done and dusted within five or 10 minutes.”

Photographs by Miles Aldridge for TIME

Elton John for TIME magazine

On the other hand, his impatience comes in handy when he's songwriting. If he can't get the right song out in an hour or so, he'll move on to the next.

“I know people think, ‘Oh, God, he doesn’t work that hard,’” the "I'm Still Standing" performer said. “But it’s really effortless. If I get a lyric and I look at it, the song comes straight out.”

In 2021, John told The Guardian he was working on his temper, but it was still in him to "explode at any moment."

Related: Why Elton John Calls the Legalization of Marijuana ‘One of the Greatest Mistakes of All Time’

"I’ve been trying to work on that for a long time and I’ve got a wonderful husband who knows how to get me out of that stuff," he said at the time. "I think it’s an artistic thing — artists can be so self-destructive sometimes, for no reason. I can have a day when everything in my whole life is going so well, and I get up and I feel like the world is against me. Why, I do not know.”

By going to therapy, he realized that it came from his strained relationship with his parents — and he knew he didn't want to be that kind of father.

"The self-loathing, not having any self-esteem, that all comes from when I was a kid," he recalled.

"I was always afraid of my parents, and I didn't want my children to be afraid of me," John added of his sons Elijah, 11, and Zachary, 13. "They're going to feel embraced and loved every second of the day; they're not going to be beaten and have those scars for the rest of their lives. I thought I was too late to have children but actually they came at the right time in my life, and that's taught me so much."