London, Jan 4 (IANS) Rocker Elton John has thanked partner David Furnish for teaching him to be more open and says it's "the happiest relationship" he's ever had.John and Furnish entered into a civil partnership in Dec 21, 2005 after being together for nine years, contactmusic.com reports. The 60-year-old John believes they are a happy couple mainly because of Furnish's willingness to work with him on his personal issues.

He said: "This year will be 12 years with David, and it's the happiest relationship I've ever had. He's brought so much to my life, it's a 50-50 relationship.

"It's been one of the great journeys of being sober and clean, you have to be confrontational. I hate confrontation, I always used to hate it and being in a relationship is all about communication and he's very good at that with me."