Elton John admits he was 'afraid' of abusive ex as he reveals 'violent' relationship

Sir Elton John has opened up about his "violent" relationship with ex-boyfriend and former manager John Reid in his new Disney+ documentary, revealing that it wasn't until he "smacked" him in the face that he ended the romance. The legendary singer, 77, is looking back on his rise to fame in the Seventies in Elton John: Never Too Late - which follows Elton as he prepares for his final performance at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium.

In the film, Elton opens up about his first romantic relationship with music manager John Reid - and how the "match made in heaven" quickly became a relationship from hell, as reported by The Mirror. "John was very confident and very funny and very attractive," Elton recalls in the documentary. "I’d never had sex. It was my first love. If people were gay, they were in the closet."

Despite a promising start, their relationship quickly deteriorated. "I was afraid of John. He had violence in him. A few drinks too many, if you crossed him he’d punch you or break a glass and put it in your face," Elton says, adding that John reminded him of his abusive father. "I can see a lot of my father’s behaviour. I was a young, first-time-in-love person. I still wanted us to be together."

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As the romance began to crumble, Elton turned to his music - and wrote the iconic 1973 album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. "I was miserably unhappy. It was very moving for me and it was very cathartic," Elton shares.

However, Elton decided to end the relationship when the pair started physically fighting. "I didn’t know he was having sex outside the relationship. When I found out I was crushed. We had a fight and he smacked me in the face," Elton claims. "I loved John very much but said, ‘I can’t go through this any more. ’ John left an emptiness within me. I thought being alone was a sense of failure."

The documentary also sees Elton open up about retiring from performing to focus on his family, with the singer sharing sons Zachary, 13, and Elijah, 11, with husband David Furnish, 62. He says: "I don’t know how much time I have left. You think about that more when you get to my age, you think about life and death. After this tour, I don’t want to do anything. This is when you start to think about mortality."

Elton John: Never Too Late arrives on Disney+ on Friday 13 December