News - US magazine Parade has just published an interview with Elton John in which he speaks quite frankly about fame, drugs, relationships and um, gay Jesus.

He said: "I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems. On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving."

In a statement somewhere between sad experience and paranoia, Elton mused: "Princess Diana, Gianni Versace, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, all dead. Two of them shot outside their houses.

"None of this would have happened if they hadn't been famous. Fame attracts lunatics. I never had a bodyguard, ever, until Gianni died. I don't like celebrity anymore."

And as if we couldn't guess that dear Elton was the compulsive type (remember that flower bill):

"For some people, a gram of cocaine can last a month. Not me. I have to do the lot, and then I want more. At the end of the day, all it led to was heartache. Just about every relationship I ever had was involved with drugs."

Elton is now obviously happily partnered with David Furnish, but he spoke further of his earlier troubled relationships.

"I'd take them around the world - try to educate them. One after another, they got a Cartier watch, a Versace outfit, maybe a sports car. They didn't have jobs. They were reliant on me."

"I did this repeatedly. In six months, they were bored and hated my guts because I had taken their lives and self-worth away."

"I hadn't intended to."