Sir Elton John has admitted his ongoing health battle is “distressing” and has started to affect his young sons. The legendary Rocket Man singer, 78, has lost part of his eyesight after a “severe eye infection”, and has had a pacemaker fitted to deal with heart problems. He has had his prostate, tonsils, appendix and adenoids removed, and his right hip and right knee replaced.

In a new interview with The Times, Elton confessed: “I can see you [the interviewer] but I can’t see TV; I can’t read. I can’t see my boys playing rugby and soccer. And it has been a very stressful time because I’m used to soaking it all up. It’s distressing. You get emotional, but you have to get used to it because I’m lucky to have the life I have.”

He credits his “wonderful family” with helping him get through, and explained he can still see something out of his left eye. He does, however, have “miserable” days but remains hopeful his sight will improve.

Elton previously confessed he might not have long left to live, and was forced to confront his own mortality after lyricist Bernie Taupin handed him the words to a song called When This Whole World is Done with Me.

He said on The Graham Norton Show: “I’m writing the verse quite quickly, and I think this is a really lovely verse. And then I get to the chorus, and I find that it’s about my death, my demise. And as a 76-year-old man, which I was at that time, and having children and having a husband, mortality, and you think about, ‘How long have I got? How long? I hope I’ve got much longer than maybe I’ve got’.

“After 45 minutes of being consoled, I was okay, but I recorded the next day… when you’re singing about being washed out to sea and the end of your life, it took me by surprise.”

He has confessed previously: “To be honest with you, there’s not much of me left. I don’t have tonsils, adenoids or an appendix. I don’t have a prostate. I don’t have a right hip or a left knee or a right knee. In fact, the only thing left to me is my left hip.”