Paramount PicturesElton John’s biopic Rocketman, which debuted yesterday at the Cannes Film Festival, doesn’t shy away from portraying both the good and the bad of the music legend’s life, including his addictions to drugs, sex and shopping, his bulimia, and his anger issues. But Elton himself tells Variety that it proves a certain point: “I am a survivor.”

As Elton explains, and as is shown in the film, it was self-doubt and self-hatred that led him to become a drug-addled diva.

“Every creative artist does have doubt and has moments of, ‘Am I doing the right thing? Am I good enough?'” he tells Variety. “And that’s what turns us into monsters as well because I think you become unreasonable and of course the chemical substances and the alcohol doesn’t help anything and you lose touch with reality.”

According to Elton, “The life I was leading…it was not a normal life, not the sort of life I came from anyway. I lost complete touch with that. I vowed when I did change my life that that would never happen again.”

Elton, now 72, has been sober for nearly 30 years, and he declares, “I am a survivor. I’ve survived a lot of things. Life is full of pitfalls, even when you’re sober. I can deal with them now because I don’t have to run away and hide.”

As for Elton’s reaction to Rocketman, which is in theaters May 21, he said yesterday, “To be honest with you, I was blown away. I was very moved. I’m very very proud of this movie.”

At an afterparty in Cannes, Variety reports Elton performed “I’m Still Standing” — whose video was shot in Cannes — and the movie’s star Taron Egerton joined him for “Rocket Man.”

Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.