Elton John penned an emotional Instagram post on Monday, July 29, which also happened to be his 29th anniversary of being sober.
“29 years ago today, I was a broken man,” Elton, 72, shared alongside a photo of his new Alcoholics Anonymous chip. “I finally summoned up the courage to say 3 words that would change my life: ‘I need help.'”
“Thank-you to all the selfless people who have helped me on my journey through sobriety,” he continued. “I am eternally grateful.”
He received endless praise from fans and celebs alike including Lulu, Elizabeth Hurley and Katherine Langford in the comments section.
Elton recently told the Times of London that the new song he and Tim Rice wrote for the new Lion King movie, “It’s Never Too Late,” accurately describes his own journey to sobriety.
“It’s never too late to change, and that’s what Simba goes through in this whole journey,” he said.
“It’s never too late to…look at your life and say, ‘I’ve got to change.’ It happened to me in my life. I had an epiphany in 1990,” he continued. “This is about having an epiphany in your life and saying, ‘I need to take a fresh look at what I’m doing.'”
Elton credits Ryan White (the 18-year-old who contracted HIV from a contaminated blood transfusion and passed away in 1990) for that epiphany. He died in April that year, and the “Rocketman” singer said, “Six months later, I was in rehab.”