Entertainment

Rod Stewart: I regret what I said about Elton John

The singer says he was drunk.
The singer says he was drunk.

Sir Rod Stewart regrets declaring that Sir Elton John’s farewell tour “stinks of grabbing money” – but he has not apologised.

Sir Elton, 71, announced his 300-date, three-year farewell tour in February.

Maggie May singer Sir Rod, 73, later told how he emailed Sir Elton  after his big announcement and wrote “‘What, again?’ But I didn’t hear anything back.”

Now he has told the Mail On Sunday’s Event magazine: “I was a bit unfair to Elton, on a drunk night on television in New York, when I spitefully said, ‘I think it’s bang out of order that you announce a farewell tour every time, and it stinks of grabbing money.

‘I wish I hadn’t said it.”

Sir Elton John
Sir Elton John announced his farewell tour in February (Isabel Infantes/PA)

Sir Rod said of the fellow performer, who once gave him a Rembrandt sketch: “I think he’s very upset with me.

“Penny (Sir Rod’s wife) keeps saying ‘send him an apology’. So I should really.”

The star also talked about his love life and romance with third wife Penny Lancaster.

“I need a bit of a start on the handle now, that’s for sure,” he admitted.

“Sex becomes more spiritual, I think is the word, as one gets older. You know, I love sex with my wife, but I love just giving her a hug before we go to bed.”