Sir Elton John’s mother was against his civil partnership due to ‘mild homophobia’: ‘She kind of ruined our day’

Sir Elton John says his mother was against his civil partnership due to ‘mild homophobia’.

The 74-year-old music legend and his husband David Furnish were among the first couples to enter a civil partnership in the UK in 2005, before they got married on their ninth anniversary in 2014 when same-sex marriage was made legal.

However, Elton admitted their big day was overshadowed by his mother Sheila Farebrother’s disapproval.

Speaking during YouTube Pride 2021, David, 58, said: ‘We surround ourselves with the people in life that give us the skills to cope, the support that we need.

‘So many people are rejected by their biological families. Particularly within queer communities. Coming out can be a very difficult thing.’

Elton added: ‘Families can be very pro or very anti. My family, my mother and my stepfather, were very, very easy with me coming out.

‘When I wanted to have my civil partnership – when I was about to have my civil partnership – my mother was so against it, because it’s officially admitting that you’re gay.

‘It was so upsetting, she kind of ruined my day. Our day, rather, by her attitude. And for all those years I thought she was so supportive and in the background there was a mild homophobia going on within her.

‘Because I was actually tying the knot with David and then getting married a few years later, she didn’t approve of it at all. And that came as a big shock to me.’

However, while David agreed that ‘a form of rejection from your own family is a very, very hard thing to take,’ he assured viewers: ‘But that was more than compensated for by the friends who came and supported us on the day.’

Elton and his mother had an eight-year feud following the civil partnership but reconciled in 2016, saying: ‘We are now back in touch.’

Sheila passed away in 2017.

Back in 2008, Elton said that he was happy with being in a civil partnership rather than being married, but later campaigned for same-sex marriage.

In 2012, he wrote in the Independent: ‘There is a world of difference between calling someone your “partner” and calling them your “husband.” “Partner” is a word that should be preserved for people you play tennis with, or work alongside in business. It doesn’t come close to describing the love that I have for David, and he for me.’

Elton and David share two children, Zachary, 10, and Elijah, eight, who were born from the same surrogate.

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