Courtesy Henry Holt
Courtesy Henry HoltElton John‘s new autobiography ME isn’t out until October 15, but the Sunday Times of London got an early look at the memoir which, as you might expect, features some super-juicy gossip about Elton’s celebrity pals.
According to the Times, Elton writes of his close friend, Princess Diana, whom he first met at a party in 1981.
“She was fabulous company…a real gossip: you could ask her anything and she’d tell you,” says Elton. “But if I was bowled over by Diana, it was nothing compared with the impact she could have on straight men… They were just utterly bewitched.”
Elton goes on to tell a story about the time and his then-partner, now husband, David Furnish invited Diana over for dinner, along with Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone. It wasn’t log after Diana and Prince Charles had split up.
“Straight away, Richard Gere and Diana seemed very taken with each other,” Elton writes. “Judging by the kind of looks he kept shooting them, Diana and Richard Gere’s new blossoming friendship was not going down well with Sylvester Stallone…I think he may have turned up to the party with the express intention of picking Diana up.”
Elton then claims that Gere and Stallone were later seen “squaring up” against each other over Diana, but both men were eventually “pacified.”
Elton also recalled witnessing Queen Elizabeth II slapping her nephew, Viscount Linley, across the face after he complained about being ordered by the monarch to go check up on his sick sister.
Elton writes, “The Queen lightly slapped him across the face, saying ‘Don’t’ — slap — ‘argue’ — slap — ‘with’ — slap — ‘me’ — slap — ‘I’ — slap — ‘am’ — slap — ‘THE QUEEN!’”
When the Queen realized that Elton saw what happened, he writes that she winked at him and walked off.
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