Sir Elton John and David Furnish have sought tips from counsellors because they worry their son could be "stigmatised" being brought up by two famous fathers.

The couple - whose son Zachary was born on Christmas Day 2010 by a surrogate mother - told Attitude magazine they will face "challenges" as he gets older.

David said: "I think he's going to have a lot of attention thrust on him. He's potentially going to be doubly stigmatised, because one of his parents is extremely famous and secondly he comes from two dads."

He revealed: "We've taken advice from counsellors. We've put a whole scrapbook together about his creation, the people who were involved in the process and how the intent was about love.

"We're going to raise him to be proud of who he is and to understand that he came from a relationship that was taking the love that we had for each other to a more dedicated and committed level."

Elton added: "We're going to have challenges, of course we are. But we talked about that before we had him.

"We have had the most incredible year with him. I can't tell you how brilliant this year has been and how much love he's brought us and how much we're getting.

"We thought that the civil partnership brought us together, but having a child has been magnificent, and I never thought I would have a kid."

Elton, 64, and David, 49, had a civil partnership in December 2005.