Elton John gives update on his vision: ‘There is hope’

Elton John is still standing.

The music legend has opened up about his ongoing vision problems in a new interview with Variety, saying he’s had a challenging “last 15 months” but “there is hope.”

“It’s been devastating,” John tells the magazine. “Because I lost my right eye and my left eye’s not so good, the last 15 months have been challenging for me because I haven’t been able to see anything, watch anything, read anything.”

“I’ve had the most incredible life, and there is hope,” he continues. “I’ve just gotta be patient that someday science will help me with this one. Once they help me with this one, I’ll be fine.”

He likens his hope that doctors will be able to help him to the hope that lies at the heart of his AIDS activism.

“It’s exactly like the AIDS situation,” he says. “You mustn’t give up hope, you must be stoic, you must be strong, and you must always try and batter the door down to try and improve things.”

John shared that he lost eyesight in his right eye in 2024 on Good Morning America, saying he “had an infection in the south of France.”

In January of 2025, he shared another update, this time while presenting with his friend and collaborator, Brandi Carlile, at the Golden Globes.

“I don’t know if you know, but there’s been a lot of stories going around about my regressive eyesight, and I just wanted to reassure everybody that it’s not as bad as it seems,” John said. “So, I’m so pleased to be here with my co-host, Rihanna.”

Now, John says he’s staying in high spirits by keeping in touch with his friends, including rock legends like Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. He also has his younger friends.

He likes to call friends on his iPad because he can “actually see someone close-up.”

“So I often call Chappell [Roan], and of course I always call Brandi [Carlile] because she’s one of my best friends,” he says. “But it’s a way of me staying in communication with people.”

John says that he still enjoys going to concerts, and has seen both Roan and Carlile recently, but “can’t really see what’s going on.”

As his husband, David Furnish, points out, that hasn’t stopped him from being the same Elton John he’s always been.

“Yeah, but you were giving Brandi lighting notes,” Furnish points out. “You were in the back of the box at the other end of the Albert Hall, and you were giving her lighting notes! Which I just love.”

“I was,” John admits. “At least I can do that.”