When Bryce Dallas Howard began reading the script to portray Sheila Eileen Dwight, Elton John’s mother in Rocketman, she immediately took it upon herself to do all the research she could on their relationship. To her the script “villainized” Sheila. Trying to understand Sheila better, under a complete confidential basis, Bryce then began to talk to anyone who knew Sheila as a person. That’s when she realized just how toxic Elton John and Sheila Dwight’s relationship was. Daily Mail has the full article.

‘It was very bad toxic damaging relationship. I think she definitely didn’t get him. More than that she was a deeply unhappy person. He was raised in a household as an only child, not shown love and affection. If there’s that void, it’s a difficult thing for him to fill.’

Sheila passed away in December 2017, aged 92, two years after she and Elton healed their rift, after a nine year period in which they didn’t speak to one another.

Sheila passed away in December 2017, aged 92, two years after she and Elton healed their rift, after a nine year period in which they didn’t speak to one another.

Posting a picture of her on Instagram following her passing, he wrote: ‘So sad to say that my mother passed away this morning.
‘I only saw her last Monday and I am in shock. Travel safe Mum. Thank-you for everything. I will miss you so much. Love, Elton.’
In 2016, Elton told The Mirror: ‘Out of respect for my mother’s privacy, I have always shied away from speaking publicly about our relationship.  
‘However, I can say that we are now back in touch and have been so since my mother’s 90th birthday.’ 

Furthermore, Elton, who is reportedly worth £235 million, shelled out £30,000 for Sheila to undergo a double hip replacement that same year.
Sheila even invited an Elton impersonator to perform for guests at her 90th birthday party.

The fall out stemmed from a phone call between the pair in June 2008, which Sheila recounted in great detail to The Daily Mail’s David Wigg, last March.

Following a reshuffling of his team, the Candle In The Wind singer demanded Sheila cut all ties with her longtime friends Bob Halley and John Reid, who had both been fired from his entourage.

Bob had been Elton’s loyal chauffeur turned personal assistant for 30 years, while John successfully managed the musician from the beginning of his career and throughout his glory days, as well as briefly becoming romantically involved with the superstar.

Since Sheila had known the two men for decades, and particularly valued their support and companionship in her later years, she flatly refused to cut them out of her life.

As far as she was concerned, they had always taken care of her throughout the years she had spent travelling the world with Elton and thus deserved her loyalty.
And unlike so many of Elton’s entourage, she was not afraid to refuse her son’s demands.
‘I told him: “I’m not about to do that and drop them. Bob is like a son to me. He has always been marvellous to me and he lives nearby and keeps an eye on me.”‘
Elton, not used to being defied, flew into an expletive-filled rage.
‘Then to my utter amazement, he told me he hated me. And he then banged the phone down. Imagine! To me, his mother!’

While on Lorraine, Bryce also discussed her sense of style and said she always recycles her clothes now.
She said: ‘Early on in my career I learnt the fashion industry is intrinsically linked in order to be dressed for these events you need to borrow clothes.
‘Something you’re only going to wear once. You realise you’re not the size of people on the runway. I started buying my own clothes several years ago.
‘I felt wasteful because I was buying new outfits and wearing them once. That is not a sustainable practice, as i was buying them on consignment.
‘I can now actually do 100% of my press tours in second hand clothes or previously owned clothes. I’m having so much fun!’

Daily Mail