Elton John has a new memoir/autobiography out called Me. If Taylor Swift had written it, she would have called it ME!, lol. Excerpts from Elton’s book have been making the rounds and I’m feeling some kind of angst about them. Here’s the thing: I love celebrity memoirs and I love it when some older celebrity starts dishing about all of the crazy sh-t they’ve seen and done. Demi Moore’s memoir was one of the best things to happen to gossip in the past month. But the sh-t has to be believable and… I’m not 100% sure that Elton’s stories are believable. Take this one:
Queen Elizabeth once slapped her nephew across the face repeatedly, Elton John writes in his new book, “Me,” according to a report in the Sunday Times of London. While at a party, the Rocketman claims, QEII asked her nephew, Viscount Linley, to watch over his sister, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, because she wasn’t feeling well and had left the festivities to go rest. Linley had no interest in doing so.
“When he [Linley] repeatedly tried to fob her off, the Queen lightly slapped him across the face, saying ‘Don’t’ – slap – ‘argue’ – slap – ‘with’ – slap – ‘me’ – slap – ‘I’ – slap – ‘am’ – slap – ‘THE QUEEN!’”
Linley then followed the Queen’s instructions. When the Windsor matriarch noticed John had witnessed her out-of-character behavior, she winked at him and walked away, he writes. “I know the Queen’s public image isn’t exactly one of wild frivolity, but . . . in private she could be hilarious,” John writes.
Who believes this? I do not believe this. I don’t believe the Queen would wink at Elton John. I don’t believe the Queen would slap her nephew repeatedly in front of guests and throw out “I AM THE QUEEN.” Is Elton going to get in trouble for telling lies about the Queen? Here’s another story making the rounds:
Princess Diana had quite the effect on gentlemen, according to Elton John. In his upcoming memoir, Me, which was exclusively excerpted in the Daily Mail, the musician recalled a dinner party he once held where actors Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone appeared to come very close to duking it out over Diana. The legendary singer, 72, writes that the London dinner party was held for former Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg while John was working on music for the 1994 film the Lion King.
“Straight away, Richard Gere and Diana seemed very taken with each other,” writes John, explaining that at the time, Diana was separated from Prince Charles and Gere, now 70, had ended his relationship with Cindy Crawford.
“As the rest of us chatted, I couldn’t help notice a strange atmosphere in the room. Judging by the kind of looks he kept shooting them, Diana and Richard Gere’s newly blossoming friendship was not going down well with Sylvester Stallone at all,” he adds. “I think he may have turned up to the party with the express intention of picking Diana up, only to find his plans for the evening ruined.”
When it was time for dinner, John remembers that the group noticed that both Gere and Stallone, 73, were absent, and that his now-husband David Furnish discovered them “squaring up to each other, apparently about to settle their differences over Diana by having a fist-fight.”
Although Furnish was able to break things up, John notes that the tension between the trio was noticeable for the rest of the evening. “After dinner, Diana and Richard Gere resumed their position together in front of the fire, and Sylvester stormed off home,” John writes, adding that the actor yelled that he “never would have come” if he knew “Prince f—n’ Charming was gonna be here.’ “
Richard Gere?!? You know who I thought was always hot for Diana? George Clooney. I thought that their paths had probably crossed at some point and maybe he wanted to date her but he never got the chance because of everything that happened in the summer of 1997. But I’ll buy that Richard Gere was probably into her as well, even though I think around this time (circa 1994) he was already starting up with Carey Lowell. As for Sylvester Stallone… blah. This story is actually somewhat believable. The story about the Queen’s slapping her nephew was not.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
