Ben Shephard had to cut Janet Street-Porter off when she was trying to tell a story about Sir Elton John live on This Morning. The broadcast legend, 78, had joined Ben, along with Cat Deeley, on Wednesday’s edition of the ITV magazine show to promote her upcoming UK tour, and the hosts couldn’t resist asking her about her friendship with Sir Elton John.
The Loose Women star spoke about her early work in films centred around the era of punk acts in the 1970s and, to her surprise, they caught the attention of Elton and he reached out to her, although she initially thought it was all a wind-up.
She explained: “I did a film for ITV, I was doing this series for young people. I did a lot of films about the emergence of punk, so I made many films with The S3x Pistols, John Lydon, about all the clothes and the fashion.
“But I suppose to older musicians, my generation, Elton is my age, it must have been so astonishing to see this explode!”
“Elton rang me up one day, my husband said ‘Oh Elton John is on the phone’, and I thought it was a joke. I went to the phone ‘Yeah?’ and it was Elton. He said not to hang up, he’d seen the show and said it was amazing. He said ‘Please come to my house for lunch, and I want you to tell me what it’s like…’
Janet-Street-Porter was on This Morning to promote her upcoming tour and talked about her showbiz pal Elton John(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info
The former I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! campmate then admitted she had been a “bit of a cow” during her initial phone call with Elton, but host Ben was forced to step in to stop her talking.
Warning her that there were just “five seconds left” before the weather report had to be brought in, he advised her to save the rest of that anecdote for the tour she is about to embark on, and the three of them burst into laughter as the programme cut away.
The Tipping Point host was engrossed in Janet’s revelations but had to jump in to cut her off(Image: ITV)
But things obviously worked out okay for Janet and Elton, as they have been showbiz pals for decades, and the former newspaper editor showed her support to him when it became apparent that he was having major issues with his sight.
During one of her regular appearances on Loose Women, she said: “It’s very tough. He’s been on the phone about it, he’s called me. I think it really affected him because he suffers from glaucoma and he had one eye that was OK and another eye which is a weak eye.
“I think the virus got him in the good eye so I think its left him with very very poor vision. It’s impossible for him to read, and it’s very very difficult. It’s made him feel very isolated and he’s a very proud person.”
Admitting Elton wouldn’t have wanted to share the diagnosis, she added: “He would not have wanted to share that because he wouldn’t want people to pity him. He doesn’t want our sympathy, it’s a battle he’s got to fight himself. Nothing we can do for him but send him our love and support. When he started telling me about it, I could see how distressed he was and it really got to me.
“The reason partly is because I’ve got glaucoma in my right eye and very very poor sight in my right eye. I could see what had happened to him and the way he sought all these different remedies and nothing has worked so far, but he’s still optimistic.”
