The long-time wish of Sir Elton John, 63, and his civil partner Canadian filmmaker David Furnish, 48, to have a child has finally been realized. They now have a son who was born on the Christmas day. The baby was called Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John (Levon in honor of American musician Levon Helm). In an exclusive interview to UsMagazine Sir Elton said having a child had been their greatest wish and now it has been granted they “feel so blessed and lucky”.
The couple have been helped in the realization of their dream by a Californian surrogate mother whose identity is kept secret in accordance with the wish of both parents.
Furnish and John have traveled a long way to arrive at becoming parents. While Furnish wanted a child all the way, John was hesitant about it. “I am 62 and I think because of the traveling I do and the life I have, maybe it wouldn’t be fair for the child,” the famous composer used to argue.
Finally they set about their adoption project last fall visiting a Ukrainian orphanage, where they were enchanted with two brothers, a 14-month-old Lev and Artyom who is HIV-positive. Lev won Sir Elton over, and the famous entertainer felt he was ready to take the Ukrainian boys into his family.
But it was not to be: this year the Ukrainian authorities refused to endorse their petition to adopt, a decision that gave the couple a bad shock. When Furnish and John realized the Ukrainian law wouldn’t permit the adoption they hired local lawyers to find foster parents for the boys.
In an interview Furnish said that now they had a son they were all the more determined to look after the Ukrainian brothers that had stolen their hearts; they intend to find a decent family for the boys in their country and they have a leading Ukrainian law firm working towards that purpose all through the year.
Before Zachary’s arrival the British rock star’s family already had 6 godchildren, Sean Ono Lennon, 35-year-old John Lennon’s son among them. Their other famous godchildren are Brooklyn and Romeo, children of David and Victoria Beckham, and Damien, Elizabeth Hurley’s son.
