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Gay news: 'Fame attracts lunatics. I never had a bodyguard until Gianni died. I don't like celebrity anymore'
Elton John
Jesus was gay, says Sir Elton; Church of England disagrees
In an interview with a US magazine published online today, Sir Elton John has claimed that Jesus was gay, spoken about the mistakes in his love-life and revealed that he set up his AIDS foundation to make amends for his years as a drug addict.
"I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems," he told Parade.
"On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don't know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East - you're as good as dead."
Of his relationships before he met his now civil partner David Furnish, he said: "I'd always choose someone younger. I wanted to smother them with love. I'd take them around the world, try to educate them. One after another they got a Cartier watch, a Versace outfit, maybe a sports car.
"They didn't have jobs. They were reliant on me. I did this repeatedly. In six months they were bored and hated my guts because I'd taken their lives and self-worth away. I hadn't intended to."
Almost all of these relationships involved drugs. "It never works. But I always had to be with someone, good or bad, otherwise I didn't feel fulfilled."
Having "lost the plot" over drugs, he said his AIDS foundation was a way of making amends and that he would "never stop helping" its sufferers.
"People with HIV are still stigmatized. The infection rates are going up. People are dying. The political response is appalling. The sadness of it, the waste.
"Every time I sing 'The Ballad of the Boy in the Red Shoes' onstage, I say that this is a song written about a time when people in America started getting AIDS and your president, Ronald Reagan, did nothing about it. I get boos. There's a lot of hate in the world."
He also revealed that fame had lost its allure since the deaths of Princess Diana, Gianni Versace, John Lennon and Michael Jackson.
"None of this would have happened if they hadn't been famous. Fame attracts lunatics. I never had a bodyguard, ever, until Gianni died. I don't like celebrity anymore."
Responding to Sir Elton's claim about Jesus, a Church of England spokesman told BBC News: "Sir Elton's reflection that Jesus calls us all to love and forgive is one shared by all Christians.
"But insights into aspects of the historic person of Jesus are perhaps best left to the academics," he added.
