Last week, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues hit theaters and featured Elton John. The legendary singer and pianist also stars in a new documentary from the World Gold Council trade association called Touched By Gold, and it includes an explanation of how he turned his kneecaps into jewelry.
After undergoing a double knee replacement in 2024, John met with jewelry designer Theo Fennell. "When I had my kneecaps removed, the left one first and then the right, I asked my surgeon if I could keep the kneecaps, which she was rather startled about," John said. Fennell expounded from there: “We had to bake them to dry them out. Then they get raw like pumice stone, they’re very porous, and so we had to paint them with acetate and then just polish them up.”
“My surgeon said I had the worst knees he’s ever operated on,” John added while Fennell held up the necklace. “That hole was actually in my kneecap. It looks a bit like an old artifact from Egypt.” John also mentioned that Fennell “brilliantly had the necklace chain made out of bones” and put a Latin inscription that translates to “I will no longer bow to any man.” “Which of course you can’t do with a kneecap missing,” Fennell explained. Watch the video below; the kneecap-necklace talk begins about 11 minutes in.
