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Elton John: "I Could Have Ended Up Like Whitney Houston"

"I wouldn't have anything [if I hadn't gotten sober]. I'd probably be dead," he tells E! News in frank interview about past drug abuse

By Rebecca Macatee Mar 29, 2012 5:41 PMTags

Elton John has accomplished a lot in his 65 years, but the thing he's most proud of? Getting clean and sober in 1990.

And he says if he didn't he would be another rock 'n' roll casualty.

"I could have so easily ended up like Whitney Houston," he says in a candid interview with E! News' David Burtka. (The official cause of Houston's Feb. 11 death was a combination of accidental drowning, cocaine use and heart disease.)

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

And John is grateful he had the willpower to quit.

"I would not be the person I am today [if I hadn't]," he says. "I wouldn't have [my son] Zachary, [my husband] David [Furnish]. I wouldn't have anything. I'd probably be dead."