Preview: Elton John's mother told him, "I love you, but I don't like you"

Music legend Sir Elton John opens up about his life with husband David Furnish, his contentious relationship with his late mother, drugs and recovery, and his new autobiography, "Me," in an interview with Tracy Smith for "CBS Sunday Morning" to be broadcast October 13.

The 72-year-old entertainer talked with Smith in Vancouver, one stop on his three-year farewell tour.

In the book, he calls his mother "The Cecile B. DeMille of bad moods." He tells Smith she was hard-working, but he was never sure which version of her would walk through the door. Moreover, no matter how successful he became, he could never please her. They stopped talking for long periods of time.

"She never liked David. She never liked anybody. She never asked to see the children," John says, referring to his husband and their two sons.

"But I'm glad they didn't meet her, because she would have criticized them, like she criticized me," he says. "She couldn't help herself. She's a sociopath."

John told Smith he and his mother reconciled before her death, in December 2017. He says they had a couple of lunches at his house, but nothing had really changed between them.

"The only thing that changed was, I didn't lose my temper," John said. "I knew what was coming and I let her get on with it. And I just said, 'I love you, Mum,' and she said, 'I love you, too. I don't like you, but I love you. But I don't like you.'"

Asked about any regrets, John told Smith it was trying cocaine in 1974. He vomited the first time, and yet went back for more. He said he did so because he wanted to be part of the group.

Soon, he was hooked. "It nearly destroyed my soul," he said. "My soul was black, like a charred piece of steak, until I said, 'I need help.' And suddenly a little pilot light in in my soul came along going, 'Yes, I'm still here. I'm still here.'"

He's been clean and sober for 29 years.

John said he wrote the book (to be published next week by Henry Holt and Co.) for his sons. "I wanted my boys to know what I was like and what happened, so that when I'm not here they can read the book and read the truth," he said.

"I just want them to understand what I was like when I went through — the journey I had before I had them — how they made my life complete, how they've, you know, finished the circle, and that, you know, they were the last chapter on an incredible life."      

For more info:

• "Me: Elton John" (Henry Holt and Co.), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon
• eltonjohn.com
• "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" Tour Info
• Follow @officialelton on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube

The Emmy Award-winning "Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9 a.m. ET, and is rebroadcast on Pop TV at 12:30 p.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT. "Sunday Morning" also streams on CBSN beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET and repeated at 1 p.m. ET, and is available on cbs.com, CBS All Access and On Demand.

Be sure to follow us at cbssundaymorning.com, and on Twitter (@CBSSunday), Facebook, and Instagram (#CBSSundayMorning).