Sir Elton: Our son got so many gifts it just felt obscene

Sir Elton John has told how it took four hours to open all the presents sent by well-wishers for his adopted son’s first birthday.
The star, 65, said he and partner David Furnish were flooded with gifts from friends and fans when their son Zachary turned one on Christmas Day, describing the indulgence as ‘obscene.’
Instead, the Rocket Man singer, who has sold over 250million albums in a career spanning 40 years and is worth an estimated £220million, said the couple gave most of the gifts away to local schools and hospitals and passed just one present on to their son because they do not want him to become spoilt.

Birthday boy: David Furnish and Sir Elton John with their son Zachary

The star, who once spent £30million in less than two years in a spending spree which included £293,000 on flowers alone, said: ‘At Christmas we bought [Zach] a swing for the garden and a little slide and that was his Christmas present and his birthday present from us.
‘But he had so many presents from other people throughout the world, which is touching but we actually found it obscene.

 

‘I said ‘It’s shocking. It’s four hours we’ve been opening these presents.
‘We had nine strollers [pushchairs] sent to us. It’s crazy.’
Elton and David, who married Canadian television producer David Furnish in a civil ceremony in December 2005, announced the arrival of baby Zachary, who was born via a surrogate mother, in December 2010.
In an interview yesterday, Sir Elton said the couple were keen to give Zachary, now 18 months old, a brother or sister for back-up against playground bullying when he’s older.

Only child: Zachary and his famous parents pictured leaving a hotel in New York last October

‘I think it’s difficult to be an only child, and to be an only child of someone famous,’ he said.
‘I want him to have a sibling so he has someone to be with.
‘I know when he goes to school there’s going to be  an awful lot of pressure and I know he’s going to have people saying ‘You don’t have a Mummy.’
‘It’s going to happen. we talked about it before we had him. I want someone to be at his side and back him up. We shall see.’
The star also spoke of his fears for pop singer Lady Gaga, revealing how he speaks to her parents, internet entrepreneur Joseph Germanotta and his wife Cynthia.
‘I look at Gaga and I think: "How does she do it?"
‘I talk to her mum and dad about it. They worry, she is frail and she doesn’t eat when she should do and she’s a girl, it’s tougher for a girl. She works really hard.
‘I know how tiny she is and I do worry about her, yes.’