Elton John and David Furnish Loves Their Baby

Sir Elton John has won numerous music awards a Tony and Oscar but for Elton and his partner David Furnish life's greatest reward is their four month old baby boy named Zachary Barbara Walters sat down with Sir Elton and David for an exclusive interview in which they talked about the dramatic events that have made them proud fathers Barbara imagine having sir Elton John sing you a lullaby well baby Zachary has that treat every day Elton and David have a baby boy born with the help of a surrogate but what made them decide to have children at this point in their lives which one is the biological father and what does the baby look like all to come in a career spanning more than four decades he has sold over 250 million records garnered six Grammys with a net worth near half a billion dollars he has conquered broad right Elton John and Tim Rice can you feel the love tonight in Hollywood I never thought in my life I would never be holding one of these he has been lighted by the Queen and has raised millions to fight AIDS while fighting his own demons of drug and alcohol abuse he has been straight bisexual and gay married divorced and now joined in civil union with his partner of 17 years David Furnish but for all his fame and riches Sir Elton John has never been a father that is until last Christmas how did little Zachary Jackson leave on furnace John and up in the arms of his loving father's the story begins two years ago at a Ukrainian orphanage their AIDS Foundation supports we were handing out toys and things like that suddenly this little boy was being held himself stretched his arm out to me and I started cuddling him and carried him around for about 20 minutes and he was just smiling and feels so happy and he stole my heart until then Alton said he never wanted children but David did and although they made every possible effort to adopt the little boy Ukrainian law wouldn't allow it why did you decide this front in your life to go to a serger considering Elton's age surrogacy seemed like the the safest quickest route to start a family well Alton you're 64 very young 64 very young 48 but not that young for fatherhood did you have concerns I did yeah David desperately wanted children I thought this little boy in Ukraine taught me something it was a message from somewhere it's a message saying it's okay you can be a father you can be a good father you can be a doting father the couple went to an agency that finds egg donors and surrogates for the egg donor who remains anonymous they simply look for someone in good health and we were fortunate often that we found a fantastic surrogate a woman who'd been a surrogate before and an egg donor that we didn't actually meet that we chose through a profile then did you mix your sperm yes what Howard Steiner we both contributed so you don't know which of you is the biological father at this stage we don't know and it's it's sort of it's a guessing game because when we look at our little son we can see elements adults and we can see elements of me it's a surrogate in the baby's life now yes she's been providing him with breast milk yeah we've been having the babies put been bought up in Los Angeles for the first four months and so we have the breast milk FedEx from where she lived to Los Angeles every day and will you tell little Zachary that this was the surrogate Mouse he's old enough you were because she and her family will be so part of our lives when he's growing out you told very few people we told you yesterday my captors see it so very few people you had the next wine Aki BC I love my little boy he's my little pride and joy he's the gorgeous did for Papa did in the world what you all did you care whether the baby was a boy or girl did you have any preference I will have a son side because I'm a sports fanatic and I wanted to take him to soccer games in England and everything like that and but no we didn't really have a preference but what did you do about getting you know bassinets and doctor yeah the surrogate came to Los Angeles on the 6th of December um so that we could all be present for the birth and our nanny when she arrived we had nothing not a diaper not a rattle anything at all and she very quietly went around Los Angeles um and got all the basics for the baby which we had taken to our office in Los Angeles taken out of the baby packages and then wrapped in Christmas wrap we brought everything into our building as Christmas presents this is a realize about military operation super secret operation we go out for lunch with friends of Christmas Eve and we got a phone call she's gone into labor she'd been rushed to hospital they raced to the hospital it was now past midnight Christmas Day and as they ran through the holes they noticed they were eerily alone it was actually ideal in terms of a secrecy standpoint as well because when we walked into the maternity ward at cedars-sinai it was empty there was nobody there it was the shining bar but there was corridors nobody was there nobody wants to have a Christmas baby people want to have them early or they get induced or they have a cesarean so from a secrecy point of view it was incredibly like worked in our favor so well tell me about the birth who cut the umbilical cord I cut the umbilical cord and then from that point on we took our shirts off and then you put them next to your chest yeah for five minutes they call it skin-to-skin bonding because it's such a traumatic thing for a baby to come into the world that to feel close to human flesh to get your scent and to feel your presence is actually it's imprints you with the child a few days later they brought baby Zachary home to a Christmas tree and president and I held him in my arms of the Christmas carols came on the music system and I cried my eyes out and and you did too it was just the most it's just like what more special thing could you ever want on the Christmas day it's full name is Zachary Jackson Levon furnished John he was just gonna be Zachary Jackson but because he was born on Christmas Day there's the line in my song or from Levon that says he was born a pauper to a pawn on Christmas Day so he got the name leave along as well hello I'm the birth certificate both are listed as parents the Sir Elton the road to fatherhood has been a strange awakening he's become what he never thought he would you know I've always been critical of baby boys you know like all here's a picture of my little boy here's a big one and now I turn into the biggest baby boy in the whole world now I've had to get an iPad because the newest iPad you can Skype on so while I'm aware to show I can Skype him every day you know Alton you and I talked 18 years ago and you said this about your father I was afraid of him I used to tremble when he came home and I always wanted his approval and he never proved what I did do you think of that today of course I don't want to thank would you ever be afraid of me I wanted me to come home and him to be so happy and rush into my arms and if I'm on the road might come back after a week or so I want him to be excited about it not be afraid I want the complete opposite well I had to go through he makes me what kind of father is Sir Elton and what says little Zachary looked like face to face when we come back his first to the appearance you're my little human jumping bean I'm going to kiss so Elton John may be the hardest-working man in show business this past year he produced and scored the soundtrack - Gnomeo and Juliet and found times Saturday Night Live just a few months ago my partner David and I became the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy thank you and as you can see I still haven't lost the baby weight the is back he will continue to tour recently with his friend and mentor Leon Russell his partner David Furnish a film producer will care for their son Zachary full-time with help from one nanny but starting this fall the family will be together in a palace actually Caesars Palace in Las Vegas where Elton has signed a three-year contract so if this is going to be a time when you can be with him yes anytime you've got a show like the Las Vegas show where you can actually spend time in one place is an ideal situation for me yeah Mia can we have a smile how hands-on are you do you change diapers change diapers yes what else to do 6:30 every night is sacra son it's when we change him we bath him we feed him and we read him a story every night beep beep sheep in a Jeep look on a hill that's Steve uh-oh the Jeep won't go what are you gonna tell him when he sold it we're gonna tell him exactly how he came into creation David what if Zachary when he gets older wants to know which of you is the biological father um we can always have a DNA test will it matter to either of you if it turns out that you are not the biological father I don't care I'd be very proud of David the dad I couldn't think of anybody to get better Deb and David and it wouldn't matter to me whatsoever and I think vice versa yeah but he'll have to know because he'll have to know his DNA and enough to know for his medical records and we just want to tell him the truth I want to ask you some questions that that are a little critical there are people out there who think that gay men should not be adopting and raising children what do you say I respect their views but I think they're wrong the only way that we can convince them that they're wrong is by bringing up our child him in the best way studies have shown and it's been looked into intensely that there's no difference of the outcome of a same-sex Parenthood than there is with a male-female parity well one of the questions are some people raises two gay men their son's gonna be gay oh no nope your your you're not made gay you're born gay that's what we both believe and there's probably a 1 in 10 chance that our son might be gay no but how we raise him won't affect his sexuality at home oh yes oh do you think that he needs a female figure in his life I'm a mother figure I think he needs some some female role models and people and women that are important in his life is it true that Lady Gaga is his godmother yes that is a female figure if ever there was when you get to the real person if there's a very simple neil girl who loves her pounds I love her to death and a lot of people say oh you know that's crazy but they don't know and we do do you wanna have more children we're talking about it yeah we haven't made our mind up just yet but it's not an impossibility I don't know Hoss ability no how sweet it is to be loved by you Zee Oh have you changed either of you since this baby was born all your energy and all your driving life is now going towards that little person not just solely yourself or or handle this our lucky we love each other so much and we've been together 18 years come October but now as David says it's all about providing for this little soul that just breaks your heart every time you see it you see him I love my little boy he's the best I just want to make sure that we do the best job possible for that little soul so that he loves us and benefits from what we were able to teach her how sweet it is to be

Channel: Myfavoritetvmovies

Views: 832,516

Rating: 4.7379131 out of 5

Keywords: Elton, John, and, David, Furnish, Loves, Their, Baby

Id: qogNZlXAz40

Length: 12min 28sec (748 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 22 2011