Sir Elton John has gotten candid about the state of his health, joking there is “not much left” of him after suffering various ailments over the years.

The music industry veteran retired from touring last year before unfortunately spending this summer battling with a “severe eye infection”.

On Tuesday (October 1), the 77-year-old ‘Rocketman’ hitmaker attended the premiere of his new documentary, Elton John: Never Too Late at the 62nd New York Film Festival. Speaking after the offering, Elton confessed how various ailments over the years have taken their toll.

“To be honest with you, there’s not much of me left,” he told People Magazine. “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.”

The father-of-two went on to thank his husband David Furnish as well as their two sons, Zachary, 11, and Elijah, 13, for continuing to make him the “happiest man in the world”. “I found complete and utter happiness and bliss when I met David, and when I had my children, our children.

“And it satisfied me so much. I’ve never felt happiness like I have now,” he added.

Elton’s health statement comes a month after he revealed he had been suffering from an eye infection, leaving him with “limited vision in one eye”.

In a statement posted to Instagram, the musician wrote: “I am healing, but it’s an extremely slow process and it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye.

“I am so grateful for the excellent team of doctors and nurses and my family, who have taken such good care of me over the last several weeks.”

In 2021, the ‘Benny And The Jets’ singer was forced to postpone various tour dates on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour due to “awkwardly” falling on a hard surface.

Two years earlier, Elton wrote in his Me autobiography that he was 24 hours from death after catching an infection following surgery.

It’s understood the incident took place during his 2017 tour of South America, where the pianist complained he’d felt “worse than [he] ever had in [his life]” and was swiftly rushed home to the UK.

“I was taken to King Edward VII’s Hospital in London, where I had a scan,” he wrote. “I was told that my condition was so serious, the hospital didn’t have the equipment to cope with it.

“I had to be moved to the London Clinic…by 2.30pm, I was on the operating table, having more lymphatic fluid drained – this time from my diaphragm.

“For two days afterwards, I was in intensive care. When I came round, they told me I’d contracted a major infection in South America, and that they were treating it with massive intravenous doses of antibiotics.”

Explaining further about the incident in an interview with Graham Norton in 2019, he said: “I literally had to learn to walk again. I was extremely sick. Luckily I survived it. Now I am fine. But there are very few bits of me left!”

Elton John: Never Too Late is set to premiere on Disney+ on December 13.