Alcoholic Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has revealed that he achieved sobriety with the crucial support of his friend Sir Elton John, whom he calls the 'godfather of rehab'. The legendary singer has assisted numerous celebrities, including Donatella Versace, Robbie Williams, Rufus Wainwright, and Eminem, in overcoming drug or alcohol addiction. Friends confirm that Sir Elton played a pivotal role in Sir Andrew's journey to sobriety, a fact the composer himself confirmed over the weekend.
Secret Philanthropy in Addiction Recovery
It has also come to light that decades before the composer got sober, he mentored 'dozens' of West End colleagues through the same process, paying for many of them to attend residential rehab facilities, sometimes more than once. A friend disclosed: 'After his son Nick died [in March 2023, of gastric cancer] he got very drunk, and then he started going to AA meetings and he got very sober. I mean, he had been drunk for 30 years before Nick got ill and died; so that wasn't the reason. But things became more extreme after his child died, which is understandable. Elton stepped in. He and [husband] David Furnish have both been phenomenal.'
A Lifelong Battle with Alcohol
Sir Andrew, 78, recently shared in an interview with The Sunday Times Culture magazine that he began his sobriety journey 16 months ago and attends daily Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. He admitted he had convinced himself that those close to him were unaware of his drinking, adding: 'You think it's secret, but it's not.' The composer of Evita and The Phantom Of The Opera attended his first AA meeting in Switzerland and noted that being recognized did not hinder him. He attended a session in New York earlier this month on the day his show Cats: The Jellicle Ball opened on Broadway and 'nobody said a thing'.
Sir Andrew is now auctioning off the final portion of his wine collection, which he has been accumulating since he was 15. The proceeds will help disadvantaged secondary school pupils access classical music.
Elton John's Intervention Legacy
Sir Elton, 79, famously set up an intervention for Donatella Versace, who later said he saved her life. However, not all of his friends have accepted his advice; both George Michael and Whitney Houston declined his offers of help.
In other news, Bloody Dangerous, a book by 105-year-old flying ace Colin Bell, has achieved heart-warming success. The veteran recounts his daring exploits as a Mosquito bomber pilot during the Second World War, flying 50 missions and earning a Distinguished Flying Cross. He retired as a chartered surveyor at age 98. Remarkably, the book reached number two in the non-fiction charts. One tale describes how, on his final mission, a tyre burst on takeoff from France. Ignoring instructions to land with wheels up, Bell brought the plane down on one wheel to give a colleague a lift. His squadron leader later warned that if the risky move had failed, he would have been court-martialed. Bell dryly commented: 'If I hadn't got away with it there wouldn't have been anything left to court-martial.'
Ralf Little, who spent four years playing DI Neville Parker in Death In Paradise, now admits that the plots 'have a habit of unravelling' if examined too closely. He said each episode ended with his character revealing the killer and motive, but he would then turn to the crew and ask: 'Yes, but where is the forensic evidence that's going to make this conclusion hold up in court?!' He added that like many detective shows, 'it's probably best not to pick at the threads of a storyline too much'.
Actress Keira Knightley is preparing to spend the summer in France making a film with her ex-boyfriend Jamie Dornan. The Worst, the directorial debut of actor Simon Woods, is a satire skewering the rich. Knightley plays a struggling diversity consultant who argues with everyone at a dinner party from hell in Provence hosted by a socialite (Alicia Vikander). Dornan, who dated Keira for three years, plays a name-dropping talent agent. Earlier this week, Keira's husband of 13 years, former Klaxons star James Righton, was spotted without his wedding ring, but it was back within days. The couple have two daughters: Edie, ten, and Delilah, six.
Hit animation KPop Demon Hunters is the most successful Netflix film ever, drawing nearly 500 million viewers last year. Producers have already signed a lucrative deal for a sequel. Meanwhile, the most-watched film on Netflix this week is Thrash, a sharks-eating-flooded-town movie that I enjoyed, though my husband says it's the worst film he's ever suffered through.
Kanye West to Perform in Russia Despite Sanctions
Kanye West is set to announce a jaw-dropping deal to play two nights at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, the seventh-largest stadium in Europe with a capacity of 81,000, while sanctions are still in place due to the war in Ukraine. This follows the cancellation of Wireless Festival in London, which had announced the rapper as its headliner but faced protests over his anti-Semitic comments, leading the Government to cancel his ETA travel permit. Plans for performances in France and Poland have also collapsed. Sources close to the deal say Ye is set to make a personal public apology for his anti-Semitic comments to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Russia remains a sanctioned state for the US, but West is reportedly 'absolutely furious' about the Wireless debacle and is hell-bent on doing the shows anyway. A source noted: 'No big talent agency would book this deal – but Kanye is now doing his own deals, on his own terms. He is going to need all the help he can get from his friends in the Trump administration to get this to happen.'
Jack Whitehall once dealt with the world's poshest heckler. He recalled: 'I was doing a gig in Putney, near where I lived... and there were a lot of red cords and Barbour jackets. I was doing some material on [celebrity chef] Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, because I thought: 'Play to what's in front of you.' In the joke I referenced him switching on an Aga. And then this man at the back shouted out: 'You can't switch on an Aga – that's the point!' I was like: 'Wow, that is the poshest heckle that has ever been shouted out at a comedy club.' And he got a ripple of applause!'
Matthew Macfadyen was sorry to say goodbye to his role as assassin Charles Guiteau in the Netflix series Death By Lightning for reasons of pure vanity. He told the Prestige Junkie podcast: 'I really liked my beard. It's like wearing a hat, it just changes your face. And then you shave, and it's terrifying because your face looks sort of like an egg. Your upper lip looks really insubstantial and that upsets your offspring.' The actor, forever remembered as Tom Wambsgans in Succession, candidly added that when the series finished, he thought: 'God, what do I do now? Nothing will be as good.'
