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Elton John · S5 E7
The Closet
1976: 'bisexual.' The decades-long struggle to be honest about who he loves while the tabloids circle
October 7, 1976. Rolling Stone publishes a cover story headlined "Elton's Frank Talk," and a single word inside changes everything: bisexual.
Elton John -- The Last Song (1992). A father visits his dying son in a hospital and finally says the words he never could. Elton wrote this sixteen years after that Rolling Stone cover, for the community he was finally brave enough to stand with.
The Interview
The conversation takes place at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel in New York during Elton's final nights at Madison Square Garden. Writer Cliff Jahr, openly gay himself, has suspected the truth for months. According to Elton's memoir, Jahr had "an elaborate plan to wheedle the information out of me." But Elton volunteers it.
“There's nothing wrong with going to bed with somebody of your own sex. I think everybody's bisexual to a certain degree.”
— Elton John, Rolling Stone, October 7, 1976
TAP TO REVEAL: How did America react to the interview?
Sherry-Netherland Hotel, New York City
The hotel suite where Elton sat down with Cliff Jahr for the Rolling Stone interview that would make him one of the first major pop stars to publicly discuss his sexuality.
The Half-Truth
Elton says bisexual, but it's only a half-step toward the full truth. He also tells the magazine he'd "rather fall in love with a woman eventually." It will take another twelve years before he says the word "gay" in print. The closet door is cracked open, not thrown wide.
The Long Road Out
In what year did Elton John first publicly come out as bisexual?
Part-Time Love -- Elton John
The first single from A Single Man (1978), Elton's first album without Bernie Taupin. Released two years after the Rolling Stone interview, the title carries an unintentional weight in the context of this episode. The song is breezy pop on the surface. Underneath, a man is still figuring out who he's allowed to be.
Part-Time Love, Elton John (1978)
Written with Gary Osborne, Elton's new lyricist after the split with Bernie. On the surface it's a breezy pop song about infidelity. In the context of this episode, every line about hiding and half-truths lands completely differently.
Twenty-Two Years
It takes Elton John nearly four decades to travel from "bisexual" in 1976 to marrying David Furnish in 2014. The journey passes through a marriage to a woman, a divorce, tabloid wars, and years of silence. But the door that cracked open at the Sherry-Netherland never fully closes again.
The truth is out, but the worst is not over. Next season: the hits dry up, the cocaine takes hold, and Elton wonders if the music is finished for good.
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