Elton John Says He’s Lost His Eyesight After An Infection

Elton John said he had difficulty watching his new musical because he has lost his vision following an eye infection.
At the opening night of “The Devil Wears Prada” in London on Sunday, the musician told attendees, “I haven’t been able to come to many of the previews because, as you know, I have lost my eyesight,” according to multiple media reports and video shared on social media.
“So it’s hard for me to see it, but I love to hear it, and, boy, it sounded good tonight,” he added.
John, who wrote the score for the musical, thanked his husband David Furnish for being his “rock” amid his health issues.
It’s not clear if John’s eyesight is expected to return, though he recently suggested there was still hope that it would. A representative of John did not immediately return a request for comment.
John shared in September that he had developed a “severe eye infection” over the summer that left him with limited vision in that eye, but suggested he was slowly on the mend.
“I am healing, but it’s an extremely slow process and it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye,” he said on social media at the time.
Last week, he provided an update on “Good Morning America,” saying, “It’s been four months now since I haven’t been able to see. And my left eye’s not the greatest.”
He said there was still “hope and encouragement that it will be OK,” but he can’t go into the studio and record “because I can’t see a lyric for a start.”
“We’re taking initiative to try and get it better,” he added. “But at the moment that’s really what we’re concentrating on … it kind of floored me and I can’t see anything, I can’t read anything, I can’t watch anything.”
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CORRECTION: A prior version of this story misattributed “Imagine” to Elton John.