Sir Elton John has revealed he turned his old kneecap into a necklace after having surgery.
The 78-year-old Tiny Dancer singer has had both knees and his right hip replaced in recent years.
Speaking in his documentary Touched By Gold, John revealed the bone looked like an “old artifact from Egypt”.
The Goodbye Yellow Brick Road singer turned it into jewellery with the help of designer Theo Fennell.
“When I had my kneecaps removed, the left one first and then the right, I asked my surgeon if I could keep the kneecaps, which he was rather startled about,” he explained.
“We had to bake them to dry them out. Then they get raw like pumice stone, they’re very porous, and so we had to paint them with acetate and then just polish them up,” Fennell added.
John continued: “My surgeon said I had the worst knees he’s ever operated on. That hole was actually in my kneecap. It looks a bit like an old artifact from Egypt.”
Fennell revealed he inscribed the words “I will no longer bow to any man,” on the back of the pendant, before quipping: “Which of course you can’t do with a kneecap missing.”
John first wore the distinctive necklace, which had been polished and trimmed with gold, in October 2024.
He rocked the statement piece at the premiere of his biopic Never Too Late during the London Film Festival.
Discussing his health struggles, John previously joked: “To be honest with you, there’s not much of me left.
“I don't have tonsils, adenoids or an appendix. I don't have a prostate. I don't have a right hip or a left knee or a right knee.
“In fact, the only thing left to me is my left hip. But I'm still here.”
Last July, he was left blind in his right eye and with “limited vision” in his left after contracting a severe eye infection.
“I can see you, but I can’t see TV; I can’t read. I can’t see my boys playing rugby and soccer,” he told The Times in April of this year,
“And it has been a very stressful time because I’m used to soaking it all up.
“It’s distressing. You get emotional, but you have to get used to it because I’m lucky to have the life I have.”
