Sir Elton John marks 35th ‘sobriety birthday'

Sir Elton John just marked 35 years since he defeated his addiction problems.

The 78-year-old Rocket Man icon gave up substance abuse in 1990s after a long struggle with it and now he has been clean for over three decades receiving cards and flowers from his loved ones.

Uploading a picture of the gifts on his Instagram, he captioned it: "Grateful for all the love on my sobriety birthday."

The legendary pianist, back in the 1990s took a year off from work to focus on his recovery and even worried he might not be the same artist after getting sober.

"After I finally surrendered and decided to seek treatment for my addiction, there came a point when I wondered if I would ever go back to work as Elton John again,” the musician explained to Variety.

Elton continued, "But at that time, I wasn’t thinking too much about being an artist. I had reached the lowest ebb in my life – the absolute bottom. I hated myself so much. I was consumed with shame. All I wanted to do was get well. I put all of the energy I had left toward my recovery.”

"When the day arrived [when I got back onstage], I was terrified, but I did manage to get through the performance,” the Hakuna Matata hitmaker mentioned.

"It was the only time I stepped on a stage that year, and I had to do it on my own without the band. In retrospect, I’m glad I went straight in at the deep end … That show gave me confidence to know that I could still perform sober,” he elaborated.

Sir Elton John has maintained his sobriety with aid of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, sharing a picture of his AA coin that he received to celebrate his 34th year of sobriety.

"34 years clean and sober. My life has never been better,” he captioned the picture which he uploaded in 2024.