Cocaine gave Sir Elton John confidence.
The 72-year-old singer admitted he loved the illegal drug from the moment he first took it as it completely changed his personality and made him feel accepted.
Speaking to NBC’s Harry Smith on the ‘Today’ show, Elton said: "I saw someone doing cocaine and I said, ‘Well, what is he doing?’ and he said, ‘Well, it makes you feel free’. And I thought, ‘Hmm, I was always on the outside looking in as far as, like, school and I was never a member of the gang, or whatever. So, I thought, ‘I’m going to try that.’
"I liked it because I could talk. I was very shy, so I thought, ‘This is the drug that has opened me up. I can converse, I can be verbose.’"
Elton – who recently celebrated 29 years of sobriety – also opens up about drugs in his new autobiography ‘Me: Elton John’, admitting he loved cocaine because it made him feel cool.
In an extract from the book, published in the Daily Mail, he said: "Cocaine had a certain cachet about it. It was fashionable and exclusive. Doing it was like becoming a member of an elite little clique that secretly indulged in something edgy, dangerous and illicit. Pathetically enough, that really appealed to me. I’d become successful and popular, but I never felt cool."
He also revealed an incident where he consumed so much cocaine and alcohol, he forgot he’d trashed his assistant’s room.
The star was stunned when he saw the state of Bob Halley’s room the morning after he’d been out with Duran Duran in Cannes, France, in June 1983, and even more shocked when his PA told him he was responsible for the damage.
He recalled: "[Bob] opened the door to reveal a scene of total devastation. There wasn’t a single piece of furniture left intact, except the bed.
"Everything else was on its side, or upside down, or in pieces. Sitting among the splinters was a cowboy hat that Bob liked to wear. It was completely flat, like Yosemite Sam’s after Bugs Bunny drops an anvil on his head.
" ‘F***ing hell,’ I said. ‘What happened?’ There was a long pause. ‘Elton,’ he said eventually. ‘You happened.’
"What did he mean, I happened? I couldn’t see how this had anything to do with me. The last thing I remembered, I was having an absolutely marvellous time. So why would I smash anything up? ‘I was in the bar,’ I said indignantly. ‘With Duran Duran.’
"Bob sighed. ‘Yes, you were,’ he said. ‘At first.’ "
Sir Elton John: ‘Cocaine gave me confidence’
