London - Sir Elton John has admitted that he fears his son Zachary will face a “very difficult” childhood because of attitudes to their unusual family set-up.
The 65-year-old singer said he is worried that his child will struggle with bullies because his father works in showbusiness, and because he doesn’t “have a mummy”.
He told Radio Times: “Being the child of someone famous is a huge ball and chain around your ankles. It’s going to be very difficult.”
Sir Elton and his civil partner David Furnish became parents on Christmas Day 2010. Zachary was conceived using a donor egg and born via a surrogate.
The singer said the unconventional family could cause further problems. “At school other children will say, ‘You don’t have a mummy’,” he said. “We’ve come a long way, but there’s still homophobia and will be until a new generation of parents don’t instill it in their children.”
Zachary was born in an American hospital after sperm from both Sir Elton and Mr Furnish was mixed to fertilise the chosen egg and the baby was carried by a surrogate mother.
The process is estimated to have cost the couple in excess of $1-million (about R8-million) but it has not been revealed who the egg donor or surrogate were.
Sir Elton revealed that 20-month-old Zachary calls him “daddy” and 49-year-old Mr Furnish “papa”.
He said he would not push him to follow him into showbusiness but wanted music to be a “big part of his life”.
He said that he has introduced Zachary to Chopin, Mozart and Beethoven – as well as Nellie The Elephant – at a very young age, but that the little boy was more interested in football and cooking.
Sir Elton has spoken before about being a “hands-on” parent and recently admitted that he wished he had not waited so long for parenthood.
In an interview for ITV1’s Daybreak programme, he said: “I regret a little bit that I didn’t do it sooner, but he has changed our lives. Everything is about him now.
“He’s gorgeous, he travels brilliantly, he so loves people, and it makes our lives – he’s the icing on the cake. I think it changes everybody. It’s the most wonderful thing that you could possibly go through.”
Sir Elton also told Daybreak that Zachary needed a sibling, saying: “I don’t want him to be an only child.”
In the Radio Times interview, Sir Elton praised Madonna, despite recently reigniting his feud with her by saying she looked like a “fairground stripper” and criticising her for being “horrible” to his son’s godmother, singer Lady Gaga.
“Madonna took the industry by the scruff of the neck, made opportunities for other women, like Gaga and Katy Perry,” he said. But he added that “some [women] aren’t good at handling their own careers”.
Sir Elton said: “Dusty Springfield was insecure, like a lot of women singers, including Amy Winehouse. It’s tragic – Back To Black will sound as good in 50 years as it does today. She was one of the greatest, but if someone doesn’t want to get well, they won’t. Look at Billie Holiday.
“It’s hard for women in this business. Some aren’t good at handling their own careers.” - Daily Mail