Elton John attended the premier of the Devil Wears Prada Musical in London's West End on Sunday but has revealed he was unable to see the performance.
Months after suffering a severe eye infection, the 77-year-old, who wrote the score for the musical, said he was still without his eyesight.
"I haven't been able to come to many of the previews, because, as you know, I have lost my eyesight," he said in an emotional speech on stage at the Dominion Theatre at the end of the show.
"So it's hard for me to see it. But I love to hear it and boy, it sounded good tonight."
He thanked his husband, David Furnish, telling the audience he "has been my rock".
Sir Elton made his way on and off the stage with the assistance of Mr Furnish.
In an interview with Robin Roberts for Good Morning America last week, the musician said his vision impairment had been impacting his ability to work.
"I unfortunately lost my eyesight in my right eye in July because I had an infection in the south of France," he said.
"It's been four months now since I have been able to see and my left eye's not the greatest, so …
"There's hope and encouragement that it will be OK but it's, um, I'm kind of stuck at the moment."
He said while he had been able to work on projects like his new documentary, Elton John: Never Too Late, he was unable to see lyrics to produce his music.
"I can't see anything, I can't read anything, I can't watch anything."
In the documentary, he said his health had made him worry about the future.
"This is the latter time of my life. I don't know how much time I have left."
Sir Elton, who has sold more than 300 million records over a six-decade career, first shared he was dealing with low vision in September in a post on Instagram, where he thanked his healthcare team and family.
He has suffered multiple health issues over the years.
At his documentary's premiere in New York in October, he joked, "there's not much of me left".
"I don't have tonsils, adenoids, or an appendix," he said.
"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. But I'm still here."
The Devil Wears Prada Musical is based on the 2003 novel by Lauren Weisberger, which also got a film treatment in 2006, starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep.
The West End adaptation's premiere on Sunday raised more than 750,000 British pounds ($1,466,190) for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in honour of World AIDS Day.
A raft of celebrities were in attendance, including Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who the show's antagonist, Miranda Priestly, is rumoured to be based on.
Sir Elton retired from touring in 2023 at the end of his 330-show Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, telling fans he wanted to spend more time with his family.
He and Furnish have two sons, Zachary, 13, and Elijah, 11.
"I'm so lucky. I'm the luckiest man in the world," he told ABC News last month.
"I'm so proud of the documentary, I'm proud of my sons, I'm proud of my attitude towards myself and what's going on. I'm just very lucky and I'm very grateful."
ABC/Reuters
