Elton John Memoir Bombshells: Porn-Fueled Cocaine Binges, How Freddie Mercury Intervened, Suicide Attempts

Elton John is letting his fans see the real artist behind all the over-sized glasses, rhinestone jumpsuits and sparkling capes he is known for rocking during his 50 years in the music industry.

The five-time Grammy winner, 72, details his legendary life, revealing among other things his difficult childhood, suicide attempts, drug addiction, the famous friends who pushed him to get healthy, and how he is "still standing", in the new memoir "Me", due out on Tuesday.

"I have lived an extraordinary life, and I honestly wouldn't change it, even the parts I regret, because I'm incredibly happy with how it has turned out," the singer, born Reginald Kenneth Dwight, wrote in the epilogue. "It all happened, and here I am. There's really no point in asking what if? The only question worth asking is: what's next?"

Here are the biggest bombshells, revelations and takeaways from the book and promotional tour interviews.

John describes his late-mother Shiela as a "sociopath" whose behavior was "disturbing even by the standards of time." He claims she once "stuck carbolic soap up my arse” as a constipation cure when he was a child, noting he was "f--king terrified" of her for years.

And in 2005, John prepared to enter a civil union with his long-time partner, David Furnish, but his mother tried to stop it.

"My mother had told [Furnish's parents] they all had to work together to stop the civil partnership going ahead. She didn't approve of two men 'getting married,'" John wrote.

As for his father, that was a strained relationship as well. John admitted that "even today," he found himself "trying to show my father what I'm made of, and he's been dead since 1991."

In 1968, John attempted to take his life for the first time. The singer "put a pillow in the bottom of the oven to rest my head on," and turned on the gas. His songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin, saved him. The incident inspired their 1975 single "Someone Saved My Life Tonight."

Seven years later, during his meteoric rise to fame, John overdosed on Valium and threw himself into a pool. The horrifying scene was reenacted by Taron Egerton in the 2019 biopic "Rocketman."

John's addictions to alcohol, cocaine and even shopping were out of control by the late 1980s.

At a house party in Los Angeles, Freddie Mercury of Queen, George Harrison of The Beatles and Bob Dylan remarked on John spinning out of control. Mercury even asked a friend to help John get to rehab.

It was his peer's plea and John's lover at the time, Hugh Williams, that finally got him to consider seeking professional help.

And during an interview on Monday's Today, John admitted the death of his 18-year-old friend Ryan White in 1990 from AIDS complications was also a reason for rehab.

"I think the catalyst was Ryan White's funeral and seeing what Ryan went through," he told the host.

Before rehab, however, John decided on a two-week bender in London. The Oscar-winner rented a pad where he hung out "snorting cocaine and drinking whisky" while watching porn.

"I didn't wash, I didn't get dressed. I sat around, wanking, in a dressing gown covered in my own puke," he explained. "On the rare occasions when I ate, I made myself sick immediately afterwards. I wouldn't answer the phone. I wouldn't answer the door."

"Eventually, I realised that if I carried on for a couple more days, I'd either overdose or have a heart attack. I had no idea how to live, but I didn't want to die," John wrote.

He eventually checked himself into Chicago's Parkside Lutheran Hospital on July 29, 1990.

John had met Michael Jackson when the "Thriller" singer was a teen and called him "the most adorable kid you could imagine." But over the years, the pop star began to change.

"Every time I saw him in his later years I came away thinking the poor guy had totally lost his marbles. I don't mean that in the light-hearted way. He was genuinely mentally ill, a disturbing person to be around," John wrote. "It was incredibly sad."

At a dinner party, John recalled, Jackson wouldn't eat anything, excused himself and was found later in the evening playing video games with the housekeeper's 11-year-old son.

"For whatever reason, he couldn't seem to cope with adult company at all," John added.

Since giving up the hard partying lifestyle, John has helped other celebrities find a healthy way of living. He is now Eminem's AA sponsor and calls him up weekly to check in.

"He always greets me the same way, 'Hello you c--t', which I guess is very Eminem," mused John.

And during an interview with The Guardian, John disclosed he has not used the sex toys Eminem gave him for a wedding gift.

"Eminem bought me and David matching cock rings when we got married," Elton disclosed. "That was his gift. They sit there, like the crown jewels, in this beautiful box on satin cushions."

John also helped Rufus Wainwright find rehab when the singer was "taking so much crystal meth that at one stage he'd gone temporarily blind".

Even though John has been sober for nearly three decades, he still dreams of cocaine.

"It's always the same dream: I'm snorting coke when I hear someone coming into the room, usually my mother. Then I try to hide what I'm doing, but I spill it and it goes everywhere, all over the floor, all over me. But it never makes me hanker after cocaine," he detailed in the book.

"Me" is available Tuesday, October 15.

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