Elton John was briefly hospitalized over the weekend after suffering a fall at his home in Nice, France.
“We can confirm that following a slip yesterday at his home in the South of France, Elton visited the local hospital as a precautionary measure,” a rep for John, 76, told Us Weekly on Monday, August 28. “Following checkups, he was immediately discharged this morning and is now back at home and in good health.”
John was transported to the Princess Grace Hospital Centre in nearby Monaco on Sunday, August 27. He has been spending the summer at the villa he shares with husband David Furnish after wrapping up his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in July. John and Furnish, 60 — who tied the knot in 2014 — share sons Zachary, 12, and Elijah, 10.
The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour kicked off in 2018 and is set to be John’s final concert tour. “I want to be with my family. I mean, I’ve been touring since I was 17 in the back of a van,” he told CBS News in January 2022 of his decision to stop playing live shows. “I’ve had the most incredible life. I’ve been so lucky, and I’ve loved every single minute of it. But I’ve had enough of that applause. … I’ll be 76 years of age when I stop touring in 2023. I want to do something different with the rest of my life.”
John previously suffered a fall in late 2021 that forced him to reschedule the Europe and U.K. dates of his Farewell tour to 2023.
“At the end of my summer break I fell awkwardly on a hard surface and have been in considerable pain and discomfort in my hip ever since,” he wrote via Instagram in September 2021. “Despite intensive [physical therapy] and specialist treatment, the pain has continued to get worse and is leading to increasing difficulties moving. I have been advised to have an operation as soon as possible to get me back to full fitness and make sure there are no long-term complications. I will be undertaking a program of intensive physiotherapy that will ensure a full recovery and a return to full mobility without pain.”
Back in 2017, John battled prostate cancer. He opted for surgery rather than chemotherapy, but a complication after the procedure caused his lymph nodes to leak fluids. He later developed an infection that was so serious his doctors said he was “24 hours away from death.”
In his 2019 memoir, Me, John said the incident helped him realize it was time to stop touring. “It was like being shown a different life, a life I realized I loved more than being on the road,” he wrote. “Music was the most wonderful thing, but it still didn’t sound as good as Zachary chattering about what had happened at Cubs or football practice. Any lingering doubts about retiring from touring just evaporated.”
