Sir Elton John, 72, had an operation to remove his prostate back in 2017 but months later, caught a serious infection whilst touring in South America, which left him “close to death”.
The singer was rushed to the UK where they discovered he was worse than they realised, and doctors even told his husband David Furnish he was “24 hours away” from dying, he has written in his new autobiography, Me: Elton John Official.
In an interview with Angie Greeves, set to be aired on Smooth Radio on Sunday at 4pm, Sir Elton gave an update on his health, where he stated “there’s hardly any of me left”.
Following his battle with cancer and the operation, he said he is “fit” and feels “super lucky”.
“I’m super fit, I’m super lucky, I’m, you know, there’s hardly any of me left,” he told radio host Angie.
“There’s no tonsils, there’s no prostate, there’s been kidney stones flying out. You know, there’s no appendix, there’s no hair.”
Sir Elton added: “What can I tell you, I am just a shell of a man.”
Also in the interview, Sir Elton explained how much pain he was in when he was battling prostate cancer.
“I was in a huge amount of pain, unbelievable amount of pain but, seeing the funny side of it as well,” he recalled.
“I mean, I’m walking across the stage, fist pumping and waving to the audience and, you know, I’m urinating in my trousers and I just think, if people only knew what’s going on, they might not be so enthusiastic.
“But, you have to have a sense of humour about everything in life and I just thought, what am I gonna do, go back to the hotel room and be in pain? I might as well do an hour and half on stage here and take my mind off it.”
Sir Elton added he didn’t want to tell people he had cancer and “nobody knew” how close he was to dying, due to the infection.
Excerpts from the Candle In The Wind hitmaker’s autobiography have been released, and in one published by the Daily Mail, Sir Elton spilled all about his pal, Sir Rod Stewart’s love life.
He claimed Sir Rod would leave a plane ticket on the bed after spending a night with a woman.
The superstar’s admission came after he said he would “end up getting bored” of people he’d fallen in love with.
In his memoir, Sir Elton writes: “It was absolutely dreadful behaviour, I’d be having one leaving at the airport at the same time as the new one was flying in.
“It was a decadent era, and plenty of other pop stars were behaving in a similar way.”
He added of the Maggie Mae hitmaker: “Rod Stewart occasionally let girls know he’d finished with them by just leaving a plane ticket on their bed, so he wasn’t going to win any awards for chivalry either.”
Rod has eight children by five different women and has been married three times.
He married Loose Women panelist Penny Lancaster, 48, in 2007 after they began dating in 1999, and they have two children together, Aden, eight, and Alistair, 13.
Listen to the interview with Angie Greaves during the two-hour programme Your Song: An Elton John Special this Sunday 13th October from 4pm on Smooth Radio, available across the UK on 97-108 FM, DAB digital radio and TV, at SmoothRadio.com and on the Smooth and Global Player apps.