Sheila's two-part interview with the Daily Mail ought to be put in a museum someday. It's critical to a well-rounded understanding of not only her relationship with Elton, but of her as a person.
Everything that got so badly distorted since Sheila's death is shown in all its unvarnished glory in this artifact.
I provide the links to both parts of the interview at the end of this page. But there's something you should know before you read it.
In this interview, Sheila explains:
why she hates David Furnish
what really went down between her and Elton
why she didn't want to meet her grandkids
But the way I see it, the thing that sheds the most light on Sheila's character is this:
She makes it clear that her feelings about Elton are complicated.
When describing what their life together was like before Elton met David, Sheila paints a picture of a relationship that is painful and frustrating at times, but largely positive.
She talks about a number of pre-David difficulties, such as:
Elton's tendency to drag her into breakups
the time she gave up a good job to be Elton's housekeeper
the era in which they constantly fought about Elton's drug problems
Yet she concludes that Elton had been a kind son whose companionship she valued. Hence her sadness at losing him.
Even as she reflects on what a pain in the ass he had been at times, she can't let go of the fact that he had also been a sweetheart. Her entire interview is founded on the premise that Elton's pre-David goodness outweighed all of his pre-David flaws.
I know what you're thinking: people lie in their interviews, right? Maybe Sheila's not such a reliable source.
But here's the thing: the nuanced, mixed-but-positive review that Sheila gives Elton proves that she saw him the way other people see their loved ones.
Before she became a dramatic device, Sheila was a human being who operated under the same principles as other human beings. Think about your loved ones and the ups and downs in your relationships. Would it ever occur to you to sit down with a journalist and start shamelessly spewing lies about those people?
So, forget everything you thought you learned from the Vanity Fair article titled "Inside Elton John's Sad, Toxic Relationship With his Mother." If that colorectal deposit teaches us anything, it's that you shouldn't stop after reading sensationalistic articles; you should click on the links inside them. Writers do a lot of cherry-picking in the name of journalism.
Part 1:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3015303/Elton-John-hasn-t-spoken-seven-years.html
Part 2: