Let's be clear here. No one is saying that Sir Elton John can't throw a tantrum when the mood strikes. When his own husband David Furnish directed a documentary about him in 1997, its actual name was Elton John: Tantrums & Tiaras. However, he's not quite the unapologetic, insult-tossing diva that his numerous public feuds might make him seem. Yes, it all happened. But it wasn't necessarily all him.

A lot of John's rabble-rousing reputation can be attributed to his days as an addict. He has told the Guardian that there was a "monstrous side" to him when he was on drugs. His late friend Dusty Springfield told him to try avoid smashing anything expensive during his outbursts, and he once demanded that his tour staff do something about the weather. However, John says that while he can have a temper, his usual self is far more mellow, and that the craziness of show business would cause anyone to lash out on occasion.

In 2016, John told Rolling Stone that while his extremely blunt, British sense of humor doesn't exactly help soften his image, he's actually far from a shameless diva. He's extremely self-aware about his temper ("we're all f*cking monster sometimes"), and recognizes when he's gone too far. He has even been known to make amends with people — John was actually the one who ended a decade-long feud with Madonna (which he had started) by reaching out and admitting he had overstepped.

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