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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Tina Campbell

Lewis Capaldi reveals the email Elton John sent him after he confided imposter fears to friend Ed Sheeran

Lewis Capaldi has revealed the touching letter he received from Sir Elton John after admitting he suffers from Imposter Syndrome following his rise to fame.

The music icon, 76, reached out to the Scottish singer, 26, after he disclosed his inadequacy fears over beers with mutual friend Ed Sheeran, 32.

“I’m not confident in my abilities as a songwriter, and I think it’s got worse, the more successful I’ve got,” the Someone You Loved hitmaker explains in his upcoming documentary, Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now, which begins streaming on Netflix from April 5.

“Elton sent me an email saying, ‘Dear Lewis, I was talking to Ed yesterday and we talked about you. He said you were feeling a bit like an impostor. B******S!’” Capaldi said, noting the use of capital letters for emphasis.

“‘You are totally your own man,’” he continued quoting the email.

Lewis Capaldi opens up in new Netflix documentary How I’m Feeling Now (Netflix)

“‘Your album is still riding high all over the world, AND IT’S YOUR FIRST ALBUM! You write beautiful songs that resonate with millions of people.

“‘You are great live, and a wonderful singer. You are also very funny and original. I mean this sincerely.’”

Capaldi went on to claim that the Rocket Man star signed off his message with a promise to visit him where Sheeran lives to help him believe in himself.

“‘Stop it now, please, or I will come up to Suffolk and bring out the latent homo in you. Buckets of love, Elton.’”

While acknowleding Elton’s nice words, Capaldi said he felt like Imposter Syndrome was something that would stay with him.

He said: “It’s nice to hear this stuff, but I obviously still feel a bit like an impostor.”

Adding: “Impostor Syndrome, I think you can have it at any level. That sort of bleeds into every single decision you make and everything you do.”

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