Elton John says he has lost his eyesight

Elton John has had serious problems with his eyesight for some time and now says it has completely disappeared, leaving him unable to read or see anything. He’s working on ways to fix the problem, but the vision problems are so bad that he can’t record new music. Earlier this year, John posted on Instagram that he had lost most of the vision in one eye due to a “severe eye infection”:

Over the summer I struggled with a serious eye infection, which unfortunately left me with limited vision in only one eye. I am recovering, but it is an extremely slow process and it will take some time before the affected eye can see again.

A few days ago, Elton John spoke with ABC News’ Robin Roberts to promote the new Disney+ documentary Elton John: Never too late. This documentary features John’s new Brandi Carlile duet “Never Too Late” and talks about an entire album with Carlile. But when Roberts asked him about the status of a new album, John had this to say:

I don’t know. It’s been a while since I last did anything and I just need to get off my ass. Unfortunately, I lost my vision in my right eye in July due to an infection in the south of France and I haven’t been able to see for four months now. And my left eye isn’t the best. So there is hope and encouragement and everything will be okay, but I’m kind of stuck at the moment. Because I can do something like that (interview), but when I go into the studio and record, I don’t know because, first of all, I can’t see any text. We’re taking the initiative to make it better, but for now that’s what we’re focused on. It’s never lucky for something like that to happen and it kind of blew me away. I can’t see anything. I can’t read anything. I can’t see anything.

On Sunday evening, when People John reportedly attended the London opening of his new musical version of The devil wears Pradaand he told the audience that he couldn’t really see the stage during the show: “As some of you may know, I’ve been having problems and now I’ve lost my eyesight. I didn’t get to see the performance but I enjoyed it… I have a hard time watching it but I love hearing it and it sounded good tonight.” John also said that his husband David Furnish was there during the process was his “stone”. Furnish then helped him off the stage.