Amid Rumors of Baby No. 2, Elton John Admits, I Could Have Ended Up Like Whitney

Wonderwall, Thursday, March 29, 2012, 12:56pm (PDT)

By Kat Giantis

• "I could have so easily ended up like Whitney Houston." That's Elton John, opening up to E! News about his hard-won sobriety and how he could have suffered the same sad fate as his fellow music icon.

  "It's a miracle I didn't," he reveals. "Because I'm sure I did as much cocaine as she ever did."

  Elton, who has been sober since 1990 (he has called it his "greatest achievement"), says he "would not be the person I am today" if he hadn't found the strength to quit.

  "I wouldn't have [15-month-old son] Zachary, [husband] David [Furnish]. I wouldn't have anything," he acknowledges. "I'd probably be dead."

  Elton's remarks come on the heels of a London Daily Mirror report that claims he and Furnish may be in the process of adding to their brood.

  "The wheels are in motion," tattles a source. "David and Elton have never hidden their desire to extend their family, and believe the time is right for another child."

  The couple, who tied the knot in 2005, welcomed Zachary via a surrogate on Christmas Day 2010.

  "By the end of this year, or the beginning of next year, there will be a fourth member of the John-Furnish clan," predicts the insider. "They are incredibly excited and loving every minute of parenthood."

  Elton's rep remains mum on the rumblings.

  But there's no doubt the star has plenty of wisdom to share with his offspring.

  "I know by being two same-sex parents that when my boy goes to school he's probably gonna have some people saying, 'Oh, you don't have a mommy,'" he tells E!.

  His advice for his "pride and joy" is to speak out, something he wishes he'd done while being bullied well into his adult years.

  "It was about control and them being able to keep me under their thumb," Elton says of his tormenters. "And I was the perfect candidate for it. Even though I was famous and a big deal, it doesn't matter, it's who you are underneath that, and I was always kind of shy and intimidated."

  Of those unhealthy relationships, he says, "One was violent and the other two were mentally violent. They were very important people in my life. They were important people in my career and in my personal life."

  He urges those being bullied to "speak out, speak out. Snitch on them. Try to defend yourself, not like me, who hid it and thought it was OK to just go on like it. ... We have to nip this in the bud. Too many people have died. Too many young people have committed suicide ... ."

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