Elton John has claimed he was prevented from adopted a 14-month-old orphan from Ukraine in 2009 because of his sexuality.
In an interview with fellow popstar Dua Lipa, the Rocket Man singer said it was his sexuality that prevented he and his husband, David Furnish, from taking in the baby. Speaking on iHeartRadio's new podcast, the star revealed he was "never going to have children" until he visited Ukraine in 2009.
There he spent some time at an orphanage and bonded with a HIV-positive boy named Lev. He said: "I was carrying this little boy around for hours. We had a press conference at the end and they said 'You seem very fond of this little boy. Would you think of adopting him?' and I went 'I'd actually love to.' Of course, not thinking about social media - it went around the world straight away. It was 'Elton John wants to adopt two children'."
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The iconic singer claims it was because he was a gay man that he wasn't able to adopt Lev. He added: "Because I was gay I wasn't allowed to anyway. After that happened, David said 'What do you think about having kids?' I always said no, but this little boy was telling me something. He was saying 'C'mon you can be a dad' and that's when we decided to have children, because of this little boy in Ukraine."
However, Ukrainian law requires an adoptive parent to be no older than 45 and at the time, the British singer was 62 years old. As well as this, the law also requires potential adoptees to be married and the country, reportedly, does not recognise gay union as marriage.
Nonetheless, Elton and David, who have been together for over 25 years, are now doting parents to two sons, Zachary, 11, and Elijah, nine. The couple share regular updates of their sons on social media including their recent appearance at the 30th Elton John AIDS foundation Oscars party where the brothers posed for the cameras alongside their godmother, Lady Gaga.
Elton celebrated his 75th birthday last weekend by dedicating a letter to his sons. Sharing to his 1.1 million followers on Twitter, he wrote: "12 years ago, David and I began the most rewarding journey when we decided to start a family. My greatest wish is for my boys to grow up in a world free from conflict and judgement, full of love and unity and experience the joy of giving back."
